Premier Sean Chen today (February 9) visited Daai Community and Yongling Organic Farm in Shanlin District, Kaohsiung City, to check on the employment and industrial development in the typhoon Morakot reconstruction areas, and received a heated welcome. According to Premier Chen, with the planning and leadership of President Ma and ex-Premiers Liu and Wu over the past two years or so, a total of 3,045 permanent housing units on 30 sites have been completed. Hence, to promote the industrial development and increase job opportunities in permanent housing communities will be the focus of future reconstruction, in order to help locals regain their life, and to ensure life and work in peace for sustainable communities.

In his first week of office, Premier Chen specially planned an early morning visit to the typhoon Morakot reconstruction area in southern Taiwan in his tight schedule. The visit was accompanied by EY Secretary-General Yi-shih LIN, Reconstruction Council Deputy CEO and Minister without Portfolio Jenn-chuan CHERN, Minister without Portfolio Chiu-hsing YANG, Kaohsiung City Mayor Chu CHEN, Vice Executive Director Biyu LIN of Tzu Chi Foundation, Manager Weiyu LEE of Yonglin Organic Farm, and Director Songhu CAI of Xiaolin Community Reconstruction Association.

First, Premier Chen listened to a status report on the overall planning of the sustainable development, industrial development, and employment in permanent housing communities presented by the Reconstruction Council. Then, they visited the Daai Community Cultural Industry Cooperative to understand how locals make a living by making LED bamboo lamps and glass beads. According to Vice Executive Director Lin of Tzu Chi Foundation, to arrange employment for locals, the foundation has established respectively the Transport Labor Cooperative, Tailoring Service Cooperative, and Cultural Industry Cooperative to create local job opportunities. Also, the foundation has successfully integrated LED technology with the indigenous cross-stitch embroidery and bamboo lamps of the Han people, in order to develop cultural and creative products of higher value. Premier Chen also instructed the Kaohsiung City Government to speed up the land planning in Yuemei and Qiwei sections to provide farmland for citizens, and to aggressively create job opportunities for citizens of the permanent housing sites. Then, Premier Chen and others visited Sunlight Xiaolin Community opened just before the Lunar New Year, and had tea with Chairman Song-Yu Tsai of Xiaolin Community Reconstruction Association and local citizens, in order to better understand the industrial promotion work in Xiaolin Permanent Housing Community. After tasting the snacks prepared by the community kitchen, Premier Chen said that the government would continue to help the community develop its own brand, in order to develop the characteristic industry in Xiaolin Community.

Later on, the team visited Yonglin Organic Farm in Shanlin funded by Foxconn. According to Farm Manager Lee, the farm was completed and began operation on 1 December 2011, and 96% of all 114 employees are reconstruction area citizens. This also represents the support for more than 100 families to build a beautiful future. Premier Chen emphasized that profit is the difference between the farm and other organic farms. Based on the spirit of building, operation, profit, and transfer (BOPT), professional teams were commissioned to equip reconstruction area citizens with organic farming skills. After the farm operation runs on the right track and profit produces, it will be transferred to government operation, in order to take care of the life and living of locals, and ensure the development of sustainable communities.

According to Reconstruction Council Deputy CEO and Minister without Portfolio Chern, following the opening of various permanent housing communities, the Reconstruction Council already proposed the Colorful Sustainable Community Plan Guideline in October 2010. In addition to aggressively overseeing local governments to complete planning public facilities for sustainable communities, the Reconstruction Council has requested the increase of relevant budgets. He continued, to enhance indigenous cultural characteristics in permanent housing, the Architectural Language and Creation of A Cultural Environment Project has been promoted to provide up to a maximum of NT$100,000 for each unit. So far, a total of 695 units have completed the task, and there will be 1,074 units to complete. The cultural environment empowerment plan was also promoted to prioritize subsidies to 12 inhabited indigenous sites for building facilities with cultural image in public areas. The plan is projected to complete in the end of March 2012.

For the living issue concerned most by permanent housing citizens, according to Deputy CEO Chern, the Reconstruction Council has initiated the Pulami Project to select large permanent housing sites requiring reinforced integration under the framework of sustainable communities. This will efficiently promote the software and hardware work in individual sites and thereby take care of the life and living of permanent housing citizens by capturing the status of individual sites with project-based supervision through the cross-departmental integration of the Reconstruction Council and central-local government integration.
 

Premier Chen visits the Shanlin Daai Community Cultural Industry Cooperative

Premier Chen praises the quality vegetables grown in Yonglin Organic Farm

Premier Chen visits Sunlight Xiaolin community