Nearly 70 percent of respondents in a survey on proposals to merge or upgrade some cities and counties said they would like to see the issue discussed at a National Affairs Conference, the New Power Party (NPP) said yesterday.
Several proposals have been raised about merging or upgrading some municipalities, including one to merge Hsinchu city and county, one to upgrade Keelung to a special municipality and one to upgrade Changhua County to a special municipality or merge it with Taichung.
A large number of respondents said they hoped the current status of counties and municipalities would be maintained and that if the issue were to be voted on, it should be done so after next year’s local elections, the NPP said.
Photo: Hsieh Chun-ling, Taipei Times
NPP Chairwoman Chen Jiau-hua (陳椒華) said the survey results showed that there was no majority support for amalgamation plans, regardless of which counties or cities were being discussed.
“The idea that such a big decision can be made by simply amending the law to lower the required population for a special municipality is wrong,” she said. “Comprehensive assessments need to be made for each area’s financial and administrative needs.”
The issue must go through cross-party discussions to produce a blueprint for the long-term development of the nation as a whole, she said.
Asked whether changes to the nation’s administrative layout were needed, about 26 percent of respondents said “yes,” and about 34 percent said they hoped the current layout would be maintained. About 11 percent said they had no opinion on the matter, and the remainder wanted changes only to certain counties or municipalities.
According to the poll, 13.7 percent of respondents were in favor of merging Hsinchu city and county, and 5 percent wanted the city and county to merge, but not become a special municipality for now, while 3 percent wanted Hsinchu County to merge with Miaoli County.
Regarding the proposal on Keelung, 8.2 percent wanted to see the city’s status upgraded, while 5.2 percent wanted to see it merged into a “greater Taipei.”
Asked about the proposal regarding Changhua County, 11 percent wanted to see it upgraded to a special municipality, while 9.6 percent hoped to see it merged with Taichung.
Asked whether Chiayi city and county should be merged and upgraded to a special municipality, 5.9 percent strongly agreed, 32.9 percent agreed, 33.5 percent did not agree, 10.5 percent strongly disagreed and 17.3 percent said they had no opinion on the matter.
Asked whether the issue of merging or upgrading municipalities should be discussed during the local elections next year, 52.3 percent disagreed, while 34.4 percent agreed.
According to the poll, 67.2 percent of respondents said they hoped President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) would convene a National Affairs Conference to discuss the issue, while 24 percent said they would not want a conference to be held.
The survey separately asked respondents for their opinion on the government’s handling of fire-safety issues, following a fire that killed 46 in Kaohsiung last month.
About 80 percent of respondents said the government did not properly handle fire safety at older buildings.
Given that last month’s fire had occurred at a low-cost housing unit, more than 75 percent of respondents said the government should offer rent subsidies to disadvantaged households and more than 90 percent said the government should do more to assist non-profit social welfare organizations that work with disadvantaged families.
An investigation found that there are about 500 older, mixed commercial-residential buildings in Taiwan, and about 8,000 older buildings nationwide that have no administrative committee to oversee safety issues, the NPP said.
The survey, conducted from Oct. 23 to Wednesday, collected 1,068 valid telephone samples from across Taiwan, and has a margin of error of 3 percentage points.
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