CENTRAL NEWS AGENCY
The Cabinet formally approved Thursday a Ministry of the Interior plan to restructure the country's existing administrative regions to create four new special municipalities.
The plan will involve upgrading Taipei County, merging Kaohsiung County with Kaohsiung City, which is already a special municipality, merging Taichung City with Taichung County, and merging Tainan City with Tainan County.
Premier Liu Chao-shiuan said preparatory work for the reorganization will begin immediately to make sure the restructuring can be completed by Dec. 25, 2010.
According to Liu, the government's national land use planning is being directed toward building three major metropolises ?located respectively in the northern, central and southern parts of Taiwan ?to promote the overall development of communities in the respective areas.
To facilitate regional development, Liu continued, the government will promote cooperation between the existing localities by grouping them into seven blocs: Taipei, Keelung and Yilan; Taoyuan, Hsinchu and Miaoli; Taichung, Changhua and Nantou; Yunlin, Chiayi and Tainan; Kaohsiung and Pingtung; Hualien and Taitung; and Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu.
Liu also pledged that the government will strengthen its implementation of the statue governing the development of offshore islands and enact a new law to guide the development of the eastern part of the country.
New legislation will also be introduced to help preserve and develop the cultures of indigenous peoples, he said.
According to the premier, the government through these changes wants to show the public that it attaches equal importance to the development of the northern, central and southern regions, and pays equal attention to enhancing Taiwan's international competitiveness and balancing regional development.
