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Deputy Mayor Huang explained that this water recycling center is the first in the central region to supply reclaimed water for high-tech industries, and the target is the Taichung Park of Central Taiwan Science Park. At the same time, the city government also cooperated with the national policy of "guiding major public infrastructure construction, prioritizing the use of the participation promotion model to attract private investment." They promoted the case with the BOT participation promotion model, with a permit period of 17 years. They estimate that the amount of private investment to be introduced is about NTD 490 million, and the overall operating scale is NTD 2.3 billion. They plan to build a reclaimed water plant with a daily water supply capacity of 10,000 tons and a 3.5-kilometer water pipeline. The goal is to operate officially by the end of 2024.
Deputy Mayor Huang says he is a Taichung local. In the past, the most celebrated thing about Taichung City was the good weather because there was little impact from typhoons. However, with the influence of global warming and extreme weather in recent years, the heavy rainfall in the past few days has brought disasters to northern Taiwan. Two years ago, there was a period when Taichung needed to post restrictions on water supply. Therefore, the need for this project is obvious. Thanks to the central subsidy and local cooperation, he believes the project will be crucial for Taichung's industrial development and people's livelihood after its completion.
In addition, Taichung has come on top in ten indicators, of which the total investment of enterprises in Taichung exceeds NTD 2 trillion, according to several statistical data released by the central government. In this regard, Deputy Mayor Huang called that if TSMC plans to expand its factories in the central region, the supply of both land and water would be considered necessary for the high-tech industry. The city government also attaches great importance to the Wuri water recycling resource reuse project and hopes to continue to support and cooperate with the central government in the future.
Hong-Shuo Wu, deputy Director-General of the Construction and Planning Agency of the Ministry of the Interior, said we should prepare for rainy days when it comes to climate change. Taichung still has 85,000 tons of potential reclaimed water resources. If there is industrial demand in the future, it can continue to promote recycled water treatment through matching. Taichung City has completed the Futian and Fengyuan Water Recycling Centers, and we will set up the pipelines later. More installations mean more abundant water resources, making sustainable water use, improvement of the life quality and environmental transformation achievable at the same time. The central government and the city government will continue to cooperate closely.
The Water Resource Bureau pointed out that they had mediated the project many times for not being able to reach a consensus on water prices and the water use contract for a long time. Since Mayor Shiow-Yen Lu took office, she has instructed the Water Resource Bureau to negotiate actively with the water users. After several meetings and discussions, and summarizing the opinions of the three parties of supply, demand, and management, they signed a water use contract with the Central Taiwan Science Park Bureau of the National Science and Technology Council, AUO Corporation, Lien Fung Precision Technology Development Co., Ltd. Taichung Branch, and Air Liquide Far Eastern last March. In May this year, the Bureau and AUO Envirotech Inc. reached an agreement and signed an investment contract, completing the investment operation.
Shih-Yi Fan, Director of the Water Resource Bureau, said that the primary water user of the Water Recycling Center is AUO Corporation, which is in high-tech industry with high demand for water quality. It happens that Shuinan Water Recycling Center adopts a membrane bioreactor (MBR) combined with an anoxic-oxic (AO) process for operation, in which original effluent quality has been excellent. We plan to transport the water discharged from the Water Recycling Center to the scheduled location of the reclaimed water plant at the north end of the Park through the existing reclaimed-water pipeline in Shuinan Trade and Economic Park. It can provide 10,000 tons of water every day with the reverse osmosis (RO) membrane system, and further treats the effluent water to meet the industrial demand standard for its use. In this way, by maximizing the use of existing facilities this project has become the first case of reclaimed water in the country that combines sewage and reclaimed-water course systems, which is enough to become a model for promotion.
The Water Resources Bureau indicated that the reclaimed water supply could alleviate the risk of water shortage in high-tech industries. The water saved can also improve the flexibility of supplying water for people's livelihood, which has positive benefits for water use planning in the dry season. It achieves a triple-win situation for the government, industry, and people's livelihood. The city government has cooperated with the central government on three reclaimed water projects in Futian, Fengyuan, and Shuinan to implement the goal of "water, sanitation, and sustainable management" for citizens.
The Water Resources Bureau mentioned that after the successful promotion of this project, and given that the Central Taiwan Science Park is the leader in driving the economic growth of the central region, with an annual turnover of over a trillion NTD and a strong growth year on year, the city government will continue to evaluate the feasibility of other municipal water recycling centers to handle renewable water plans. It also adheres to the concept of transforming the water recycling center into a small urban reservoir, creating a water-saving city and making the environment sustainable. The bureau also hopes to attract more industries to settle in Taichung by stabilizing the water supply, to create a recycling and renewable economy.
Today, the Construction and Planning Agency of the Ministry of the Interior, the Water Resources Agency of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, and the Central Taiwan Science Park Bureau of the National Science and Technology Council all attended the grand event. Deputy Mayor Huang particularly appreciated the support of the Ministry of the Interior, the central subsidy unit, as well as the joint efforts of the Water Resources Agency of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the Central Taiwan Science Park Bureau of the National Science and Technology Council, water-user companies and all participating manufacturers to promote this project. Today's groundbreaking blessing ceremony represented positively another big step for the central and local governments to develop the recycling and reuse of water resources!
The Riverbank Band performed at the opening for today's activity. Deputy Mayor, and City Councillor Xin-Hui Huang, Director of the Water Resource Bureau Shih-Yi Fan, deputy Director-General of the Construction and Planning Agency of the Ministry of the Interior Hong-Shuo Wu, Deputy Chief Engineer of the Water Resources Agency of the Ministry of Economic Affairs Chang Guang-Zhi, Deputy Director of the Central Taiwan Science Park Bureau of the National Science and Technology Council Wen-Fang Shi, Director of Xitun District Bao-Yun Chen and local Village Chiefs, Manager of AUO Corporation Ting-Kuan Liao, Assist Manager of the Central Taiwan Science Park Branch of Lien Fung Precision Technology Development Co., Ltd. Xin-Quan Chen, Chairman of AUO Envirotech Inc. Xiao-Zhong Lee attended the ceremony. Besides, Legislator Hsin-Chun Ho and Wan-Chien Chang Liao, City Councillor Cheng-Chung Yang, Chi-Feng Lin, and Shu-Hua Chen also sent members to participate in the event.