Changhua County representatives yesterday launched a petition to become a special municipality in the hopes of revitalizing the nation’s most populous county.
The issue has swept local politics since Hsinchu Mayor Lin Chih-chien (林智堅) last month suggested merging his city with Hsinchu County to become the nation’s seventh special municipality, inspiring subsequent proposals for mergers involving Chiayi, Keelung, Taipei, parts of New Taipei City and now Changhua County.
A special municipality, the nation’s highest-ranking administrative division, affords a greater degree of autonomy and more funding to approved regions with at least 1.25 million people and special development needs.
Photo: CNA
The arrangement has been criticized for worsening the urban-rural divide by privileging certain areas.
While the “Greater Hsinchu” proposal is impossible under law given its population size, the idea has piqued interest from the more populous Changhua County.
Emphasizing that the Changhua area would meet the legal requirement, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) county councilors yesterday launched a campaign calling for an administrative promotion.
“Upgrading Changhua County cannot wait longer,” the representatives told a news briefing at the county council in Changhua City.
This year’s federal funding, when divided among the population, amounted to NT$8,252 per resident, compared with NT$10,942 in Yunlin County and NT$13,022 in Nantou County, they said.
The county is the nation’s largest administrative district after the six special municipalities, said Chiu Chien-fu (邱建富), director of the DPP’s Changhua County chapter and former Changhua City mayor.
It is an important agricultural, technological and industrial center, as well as a railway interchange for the Western Trunk Line, he said.
Its population of 1.26 million people is also just over the upgrade requirement as stipulated in the Local Government Act (地方制度法), Chiu said, adding that there is no reason not to apply.
Voicing their agreement, county councilors Hsu Shu-wei (許書維) and Yang Miao-yue (楊妙月) said that an upgrade on the eve of the county’s 300th anniversary would be a momentous event welcoming the next three centuries.
The DPP council caucus and local chapter would work together to bring their petition to the county’s two cities, six urban townships and 18 rural townships, they said, adding that residents could sign it at representatives’ local offices or party liaison offices.
The petition calls on the county government to draft a restructuring plan with the goal of upgrading to a special municipality as soon as possible, the councilors said.
It would then be sent to the county council for review, after which the Ministry of the Interior would report to the Cabinet for approval, they said.
“If we turn our backs and remain stagnant, then the smaller Hsinchu City will beat us to a merger and upgrade,” they added.
After Taipei County was promoted to New Taipei City in 2009, it was granted a large boost in its budget, allowing it to grow at a surprising rate, they said.
Only by upgrading to a special municipality could Changhua County see the same benefits to improve residents’ lives, they said.
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