Two high-tech corridors planned for east Taiwan

Looking to balance the nation's economic growth between the have and have-not regions, the Taiwanese government is going ahead with a plan to set up two high-tech industry corridors for the east coast counties of Ilan, Hualien, and Taitung.

Details on land allocation and construction of the industry park in Ilan County were announced by National Science Council officials this week, with a total of 1,600 hectares near Ilan City set aside for a series of five expansion phase plans.

"This Ilan high-tech corridor would have its own characteristics, different to the existing science parks. It would be mainly based on enhancing knowledge-based industries, the telecommunications sector, information content providers, financial services, medical health technology, and opto-electronic manufacturing," said NSC minister Wu Maw-kuen yesterday.

"We have forwarded this Ilan science-park plan for Cabinet approval this week. The plan is to commence construction of infrastructure networks, transportation, and public utilities by the end of this year. Already, there are many leading companies expressing their hopes of setting up shop there," Wu told the press yesterday.

According to NSC officials in charge of the Ilan project development, among companies looking to sign up for the park are American Express, BenQ Taiwan, HannStar Display Corp., Chunghwa Picture Tubes, Institute for Information Industry, and the computing network service-providing firm Accton.

Officials said land development costs in Ilan County would be less than a similar sized area in most of the northern and central regions of Taiwan, at about NT$500 million to NT$750 million per hectare for land acquisition. It is expected to cost a further NT$1.5 billion per hectare to make the land meet the specific criteria demanded for science park business operation.

Hualien-Taitung plans

Along with the science park project planned for Ilan County, Wu and other top government officials have also targeted the Hualien-Taitung county areas as suitable for establishing another high-tech corridor to boost economic growth and expand basic infrastructure networks for Taiwan's east coast region.

Wu said, "This will be a longer term project which will involve careful planning, taking into account the region's outdoor environment as well as its scenic mountain and coastal settings. For the Hualien-Taitung areas, we are looking at R&D innovation centers focusing on health therapy clinics, recreational leisure ventures, alpine and marine eco-tourism, environmental sciences, and other service-sector based enterprises."

He pointed out that the clean environmental conditions of Hualien and Taitung would be well-suited to a natural health industry, and could also include R&D programs to develop retirement homes for senior citizens as well as therapeutical and post-recovery care clinics for hospital patients.

There are also considered to be much potential for other advanced medical fields such as biotechnology, and pharmaceuticals for this new high-tech corridor to fulfill increasing demands from the world's aging population.

NSC officials said transportation networks would be in place for these two science parks' start-up in the near future, with the Taipei-Ilan Highway construction scheduled for completion by next year, which would make Taipei a 40-minute car drive from Ilan City.

Among other considerations, Wu indicated Taiwan has no problem in meeting the high-tech science park construction targets and attracting new developments for the east coast counties. He said the biggest issue is the shortage in high-tech talent, with Taiwan's current annual production of university graduates unable to meet the demands of the new knowledge-based industries both in terms of numbers as well as specialist knowledge.

"The two new science park projects would bring new jobs and economic benefits to our eastern Taiwan residents. It will go a long way to balance the regional disparities across the nation and bodes well for national growth and development in the high-tech fields for the coming years," said NSC vice minister Shieh Ching-jyh.