Chiayi City GovernmentChiayi City Government

Chiayi City obtained subsidy from 2nd phase of Forward-looking Program worth 280 million Taiwanese dollars.   May 20, 2024 Transportation Department           Chiayi City Government received the approval on the budget from Highway Bureau, MOTC’s 2nd phase of the Forward-looking Infrastructure Program for the project of Changrong Park Underground Parking. The total budget for the construction is 550 million Taiwanese dollars, 280 million subsidized by the Central Government and 270 million arranged by the local government. There will be 137 parking spaces for regular light vehicles to relieve the demand on parking.         Chiayi City Government applied to the Central Government for the budget of parking lot construction. Highway Bureau, MOTC has approved the subsidies on the underground parking at the north building of the City Hall and the old City Hall. This year the City Government obtained the subsidy for Changrong Park Underground Parking. There are 6 forward-looking parking lots in total along with the 3 subsidized constructions at Chung-wen Elementary School, Yichang Park and Chiapei Elementary School. There will be totally 1475 parking spaces to improve the parking condition in Chiayi City.         Chiayi City Government has been striving for the subsidy on parking construction from the 2nd phase of Forward-looking Program since 2022 to create a safer parking environment. The intelligent and convenient parking facilities will make Chiayi City as a friendly city and a tourist exemplar with the prosperous tourism. The City Government will conduct design, bidding and construction with the subsidy from the Central Government.         The program will relieve the parking demand at Hinoki Village, Beimen Station and Chiayi Old Prison. Chiayi City will create a smart, green and convenient parking environment to drive the development of tourism. The City Government dedicates to building a place of friendliness, prosperous tourism and road safety.

Flood Control – Mayor Min-hui Huang along with Central Government inspect preparations and fortify cross-area protection and communication.   May 14, 2024 Public Works Department / Tourism and Information Department           The season of flooding has started from May 1. Due to extreme weather, short-duration intense rainfall and typhoon events occur more frequently. Min-hui Huang, mayor of Chiayi City, led her executive team to different places for flood inspection this afternoon along with Fifth River Management Branch, Yunlin-Chiayi-Tainan Region Branch Office of Highway Bureau, Southern Region Branch Office of Highway Bureau, and people of different units such as village chiefs. The locations included Chiayi Interchange, the pumping engine room at Xingye West Road’s underpass, the embankment at Bazhang River, and Junhui Bridge. The inspection covers preparations for floods and measurements of response. They aim to strengthen the collaborations between the local and central and integrate resources in order to build a complete safety line.         After listening to the report regarding flood control at Chiayi Interchange by Te-yan Liu the chief of Xinying Section, Min-hui Huang the mayor indicated that Beigang Road plays an important role for Chiayi Interchange of National Highway No.1 that connects to different places. In the past, flood always occurred during intense rainfall which caused the blockage. By collaborating with Southern Region Branch Office, a detention basin was built to improve the drainage around the interchange. The City Government also added a pumping station and a catch basin at the inlet and the southwestern outlet of the detention basin. The construction was completed on February 6, and 4 large mobile pumps were set up before the season of flooding to increase the capacity twice. Huang appreciates Southern Region Branch Office for keeping the safety on the national highway and improving the facilities for flood control.         Afterwards, the group moved to the embankment at the north of Bazhang River to listen to the report on the construction for improvement on Bazhang River embarkment by Ming-hua Wu the director of the Fifth River Management Branch. Huang appreciates the Fifth River Management Branch for covering the demand from local development of Chiayi City while dealing with flood control. The complexity at Yongqin Bridge No.1 was solved thanks to the construction which added the functions such as flood control and beautification. The improvement on Bazhang River embankment was divided into 3 phases to introduce local features and culture from the mindset of design. The 1st phase is the construction from Yongqin Bridge No.1 to Humei Third Road starting from September 14, 2023. The goal is to prepare for Q100 flood control standard and to process dredged slurry as embankments for the safety of riverbank. It is estimated that the 1st phase of construction will complete by January 5, 2025 to connect the 4 green parks in Huzinei. The residents will have a high-quality environment for leisure time to form a green zone of Chiayi City as the expropriated area in Huzinei develops.         Junhui Bridge over Bazhang River plays an important role as a main route that connects Zhongpu, Shuishang and Procincial Highway 82. During the past 40 and more years since inauguration, Junhui Bridge has been through the 87 Flood and Typhoon Morakot which caused the exposure of bridge piers. The functions for flood control fail to meet the requirements of current river management. To keep the safety of the citizens, the City Government, Yunlin-Chiayi-Tainan Region Branch Office and other units collaborated to strive for the 970 million Taiwanese dollars budget on reconstruction of the bridge. Mayor Huang and Qing-shui Kuo the director of the branch office went to Junhui Bridge and listened to the report by Ming-chyn Tsai the chief of Shuishang Branch on the reconstruction progress and flood control during the season of floods. The safety of the citizens is always the priority, Huang stated. She appreciated the branch office for building bridges for flood control and access control. The team attempts to advance the progress to make it accessible by November. Anticipated by the citizens, Junhui Bridge will increase the safety for bridge users and drive the development in different industries and tourism after reconstruction. Huang stressed that the safety of construction workers and equipment should be ensured while focusing on progress and quality. Huang called for the cooperation and understanding of the residents nearby during the construction.         Huang reminds that different departments to keep an eye on the forecast during typhoons or heavy rain. Local governments and the Central Government work together for flood control and corresponding precautions. Instant reports for any kind of situation should be done to protect the citizens. The citizens should follow the instructions after the City Government initiates the lockdown. People ought to keep away from the blocked area in favor of the safety.         According to Public Works Department, increasing the drainage flow capacity and dredging capacity has been the focus of the City Government. Up until the end of April, the dredging length of the drainage system is 15,318 meters while the slurry dredged reached 1,498 cubic meters. The City Government advanced the arrangements and scheduled the training for flood control professionals on January 26. On March 15, relative units gathered for the meeting on integration of resources during emergency and mutual supports regarding communications for disaster relief. The completed construction sites include the 5 underground pumping station, dredging of catch basins, inspections on the 2 pumping stations at Houhu and Hunei, replenishment to the hydraulic system, pumping tests, and the preparation for the 24 large mobile pumps. There have been 20 out of the 24 installed in low-lying areas and 4 as stand-by pumps.         The spokesperson of Public Works Department further explained that the City Government keeps striving for budget on adding 7 more large mobile pumps to prepare for situations such as the 0910 heavy rain incident in 2023. There have been 5 pumping stations added to improve the efficiency. In addition, 55 detectors have been set up in the drainage system to access instant information of water level in low-lying areas as well as analysis for improvement. Residents ought to check the fallen leaves or mud accumulated at draining holes around the houses to ensure the water flow for precautions

Assisting businesses to increase digital power, Chiayi City’s application with subsidy up to NT$120,000 kicks off   May 6, 2024 Economic Affairs Department / Tourism and Information Department           Continuing the good review on the first event, Industrial Development and Investment Promotion Committee, Chiayi (IDIPC) held the orientation for the 2nd Unique Stores of Digital Optimization. The event this year will subsidize up to 15 stores compared to 5 last year, and dozens of business owners have signed up for it. Min-hui Huang the mayor of Chiayi City showed up at the orientation to express admiration to those who are willing to step towards digital transformation. The event is one of the projects for business starting environment optimization by attracting young generations, which are executed by IDIPC under the City Government’s 10 Flagship Programs. Each feasible project which is planned by the participants will earn 60 to 120 thousand NT dollars if being selected during the evaluation. It is estimated that 15 projects will pass the evaluation from the 1st phase.         After thanking all the participants today, Huang stressed that design transformation and digital transformation are the keys to brand upgrade and sustainable development. The City Government prearranged to introduce digital transformation and designing into city management. Nowadays, diverse stores with different styles are around the streets as the must-visits in Chiayi City. The sales figures of the profit-seeking enterprises in Chiayi City have reached over 289.8 billion NT dollars, as the highest in the recent 5 years.         The City Government has built a more competitive environment through integration of resources in order to encourage more businesses to apply digital transformation, stated Huang. There are workshops, loans and interest subsidies for business starting apart from the optimization on environment. The projects include: Business Starting Subsidy for Young People, Subsidy for Unique Stores Reformation, Promotion of Local Industry Innovation, and Unique Stores of Digital Optimization. We hope that the City Government will be the strong support to provide resources required in different phases of development for the businesses.         The stores that were selected for the subsidy last year also shared their results in optimization in service processes with digital tools. Yu-shan Chang the owner of Kapkapchakee thanked the City Government for planning lectures, gatherings for exchanges apart from subsidy. Kapkapchakee set up digital tools to optimize the service processes such as QR Code self-order system, online paycheck, the kitchen display system (KDS), the customer display system (CDS). The cost on personnel for 2 minutes in ordering was saved for the store to focus on meal preparing. The reviews from the customers were therefore improved, and more of them will revisit. Yi-hsiang Kao the owner of Loha Tea has increased the number of membership as well as providing online ordering service through working with digital platforms. Loha Tea makes marketing strategies more diverse by utilizing the database of the membership to hold reward programs. The sales had an enormous growth thanks to that.         Many participants had positive reviews on the event last year, stated Yao-hung Hsu the president of IDIPC. There are more resources available this year thanks to the collaboration with Social Affairs Department. Apart from the subsidy to 15 businesses, there are projects including serial lectures, gatherings for young business starters and start-up exhibitions. It is not only the global trend but Mayor Ming-hui Huang’s strategies on development to reduce the waste of resources through digital transformation, Hsu mentioned. The Central Government held the Subsidy Program for Resolution on the Cloud – Cloud Promotion Matchmaking Orientation recently. Businesses that apply digital applications will obtain 30 thousand NT dollars as subsidy, while Chiayi City issues the subsidy with the amount 3 times higher. Hopefully, the subsidy will be a great support to the businesses that adopt digital transformation and applications.         The proposals for digital optimization from the participants can be applied to setup of digital tools, development of mobile applications, and online marketing, Hsu pointed out. The proposals could assist the stores to increase the operation efficiency and to enlarge the scale in the market. Those who are willing to sign up are welcome to apply before May 17. The City Government expects more business teams to be the digital pioneers who bring prosperity to the commerce in Chiayi City.