Groundbreaking of TSMC's Kaohsiung Factory in August? 台積電楠梓廠8月動工? 藍營議員提質疑

There were reports that the groundbreaking for TSMC's new Kaohsiung factory would take place on Aug. 7. On Aug. 1, Kaohsiung City Mayor Chen Chi-mai said the groundbreaking would take place sometime in August. In response, the KMT city councilors questioned why the city government is serving as TSMC's mouthpiece, saying it is putting on a show ahead of the elections.

Kaohsiung City councilors belonging to the KMT held a press conference on Aug. 2 to talk about the show the Kaohsiung City Government is staging ahead of the year-end elections using TSMC. On Aug. 1, Mayor Chen Chi-mai announced that the groundbreaking of TSMC's new Kaohsiung factory will take place in August. The reported Aug. 7 groundbreaking date is actually that of an industrial park in Nanzi District. The councilors pointed out that TSMC and the city government have not even signed an agreement for the land and have not decided on the rent.

Chen Li-na, Kaohsiung City Councilor (KMT): “There are preferential policies under the (central government's) Statute for Industrial Innovation, so the rent will probably be one-third lower than what the Kaohsiung City Government can offer. However, it looks like there is no way for it to meet the standards for central government-level processing zones or science parks.”

The councilors also said that the city government set the land usage area at under 30 hectares to facilitate the EIA. However, this ended up making the rent higher, which the city government did not want. Meanwhile, the Taiwan Statebuilding Party complained that the KMT is being too pessimistic about Kaohsiung.

Yang Pei-hua, Kaohsiung City Councilor Candidate (TSP): “As city councilors, their duty is to supervise the municipal administration, not express pessimistic views about Kaohsiung. ”

Liao Tai-hsiang, Dir.-General, Econ. Development Bureau, Kaohsiung City: “Those in the know will know that there are existing procedures and methods to follow in park development or the construction of high tech factories. We feel very disappointed with the KMT's comments today.”

The city's Economic Development Bureau said everything is being done according to the procedure. The KMT said it hopes the city government and central government can discuss the rent issue as soon as possible. Meanwhile, there is no definitive answer on when the groundbreaking of TSMC's new plant will take place.

國民黨市議員排排坐，今日上午開記者會抨擊高市府選前作秀，消費台積電，因為市長陳其邁表示，台積電楠梓廠將在8月動工，但外傳的日期8月7日，其實是楠梓產業園區動土，台積電根本還沒跟市府簽土地約，連租金也還沒談好。

國民黨籍高雄市議員陳麗娜表示：「（中央）有產創條例的優惠政策，所以租金大概是高雄市政府產業園區的3分之1而已，所以要達到中央級，譬如說加工區、科學園區這種的優惠政策，看來是不可能了。」

藍營表示，為了讓用地在地方完成環評，市府將用地面積訂在30公頃以下，反而導致租金較貴，是作繭自縛。而藍營多次以台積電議題抨擊市府，也引來台灣基進黨不滿，上午同樣到議會抗議，認為藍營唱衰高雄。

台灣基進市議員參選人楊佩樺表示：「做為一個市議員，他的職責是監督市政，不是一直唱衰高雄。」

高雄市經發局長廖泰翔表示：「園區的開發或者是高科技的建廠，對熟悉的人來說，都知道有既有的流程以及方式，那我們對於國民黨今天有這樣子的評論，我們感到非常遺憾。」

經發局回應，一切都按照程序進行中，藍營喊話希望市府盡快跟中央協商租金問題，而台積電究竟何時會動土？各界都在關注。