July 20, 2006 The ground-
breaking ceremony at
Taichung's Precision Machinery
R&D Park.

July 6, 2005 A conference held
in Taichung's Precision
Machinery R&D Park.

Taichung's Superb Bidding Investments: Number One on the Island!

Words and photos by Taichung City Government
Translated by Sho Huang

The economic development of Taichung perked up in the first quarter and has outperformed every other market on the island, including those in Taipei, Kaohsiung, Taoyuan, Hsinchu and Tainan.

To further this economic prosperity, the Ministry of Economic Affairs announced that Taichung's outstanding economic performance had won the city a NT$100 million bonus from the national government. Mayor Jason Hu expressed his gratitude and said the real thanks should be given to his government team and to the private sector. The award, which was given in early May, will be mostly used to improve public facilities and stimulate more investment. The government hopes that this money will help improve the standard of living for the citizens of Taichung.

The award money came from a Ministry of Economic Affairs competition aimed at getting local governments to step up their economies. The ministry divided the 25 selected cities and counties into two groups--"A" and "B"--to compete for "Best Economic Performance". Besides Taichung, the "A" group included Keelung, Kaohsiung, Taipei County, Hsinchu, Tainan, Kaohsiung County, Tainan County, Taoyuan County, Taipei City, Hsinchu County and Taichung County. Even with this stiff competition, Taichung fought its way to the top and won first place.

Taichung Deputy Mayor James Hsiao pointed out that there were the six categories considered in evaluating economic development. Some of Taichung's winning statistics: New business registration has grown 15％; construction has grown 49.71％ and has stimulated real estate revenue to increase by 70％; 420,000 workers have joined the labor insurance program, which has increased 1.96％ overall; and, finally, the unemployment rate has dropped from 5% to 3.9% and has even gone as low as 2.44%. With all of the above progress, Taichung is really a city that its residents can be proud of.

Hsiao also said that the citizens in Taichung could feel the benefits that all of this development had brought. The 96 factories and NT$5 billion capital at the Precision Machinery R&D Park have created great job opportunities. The establishment of Costco has also employed hundreds of people. Moreover, Mayor Hu has been working hard to promote Taichung as a "Cultural, Economically Sound, and International City" and has seen results through events like concerts by Pavarotti and Bocelli and international sporting events like the Asia Cup and the Olympic Qualifying Games.

The current Precision Machinery R&D Park.

Mayor Hu said that teamwork between the government and private sectors had made Taichung's economic success possible. Winning this island-wide competition will certainly attract attention from international investors, and the real estate market is already attracting players from China and Hong Kong. Right now, things are going well for the city, and the government sees a bright future on the horizon.