Following a presentation at Thursday's meeting of the Cabinet by the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) on broadening the scope of a plan to revitalize urban industrial zones through vertical expansion, Premier Su Tseng-chang said that since the plan was approved in March 2018, the Ministry of the Interior and various local governments have completed revisions to the appropriate enforcement acts of the Urban Planning Law, and are now able to accept and process applications from businesses. The initiative is thus emerging as a valuable aid in the government's quest to relieve the shortage of industrial land for new development.
The vertical expansion plan initially only applied to industrial and science parks regulated by the MOEA and the Ministry of Science and Technology, said the premier. However, in order to support and incentivize even greater investment in innovative research and development and updated facilities by enterprises having growth potential, as well as supercharge efforts to draw overseas Taiwanese firms back to invest in Taiwan, the Cabinet agreed that the MOEA should extend the initiative to cover planned urban industrial and manufacturing zones beyond those designated for development by the government.
The MOEA indicated that the vertical expansion plan is an important component of government policy aimed at solving the shortage of land, one among a total of five shortages holding back corporate investment in Taiwan. By increasing allowed floor area ratios to enhance industry land use efficiency, the plan will provide a timely boost in meeting the development needs of innovative new companies.