Qiu Chenyuan, candidate for Zhubei mayor of the People’s Party, held a press conference with Hsinchu County parliamentary candidates. Heavy artillery bombarded the Kuomintang’s ruling county government for its inability to control floods.

The blue-white cooperation between Hsinchu County and Zhubei City has broken down. People's Party Zhubei mayor candidate Qiu Chenyuan (2nd from left) today, together with Hsinchu County councilor candidates You Yating (2 people from the right), Chen Xiumei and Xu Shengling (1st from left), fired the first shot in the blue-white showdown. In response to the stalled construction of rainwater sewers, heavy artillery bombarded the Hsinchu County government governed by the Kuomintang for its incompetence in governance. (Provided by Qiu Chenyuan Bidding Office)

The blue-white cooperation between Hsinchu County and Zhubei City breaks down, and the election campaign heats up! People's Party Zhubei mayor candidate Qiu Chenyuanjin held a press conference with Hsinchu County assembly candidates You Yating, Xu Shengling and Chen Xiumei, firing the first shot in the blue-white showdown. They cited the latest audit report of the Audit Department, which stated that heavy bombardment of the KMT-ruled Hsinchu County government's governance incompetence has resulted in the county's rainwater sewer construction being stalled for five consecutive years, leaving a construction gap of up to 42 kilometers, and even the dredging contracts before the flood season were seriously delayed.

Qiu Chenyuan criticized the Zhu County government for not using extreme weather conditions as a shield for laziness in governance, and issued a campaign message calling on county mayor candidates from all parties to specifically commit to the "three major goals of water control in Zhu County."

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Qiu Chenyuan pointed out that the county planned to build 157 kilometers of rainwater sewers from 2021 to 2025, but only 115 kilometers were actually completed; what is even more outrageous is that the Xionglin drainage plan has not been reviewed for 40 years, and the flood control standards in Hengshan, Baoshan, Xinpu, Xinfeng, and Hukou have not been revised for more than one to twenty years, and flooded hot areas highly overlap with poorly planned areas. In addition, the sewer clearing and dredging contract work that the county government promised to complete in March has been repeatedly delayed. The award was not awarded until the end of July after the disaster. It is simply "a physical examination after flooding." He emphasized that although Zhubei City is a disaster-stricken area, the county government has the power to plan the main pipelines and inter-regional water systems, and the county government must assume political responsibility.

In order to completely improve the quality of water control, Qiu Chenyuan’s team representative proposed the "three major goals of water control in Zhuxian County". The first is "ending construction stagnation," which requires a comprehensive inventory of the 42-kilometer sewer gap and making the project schedule and budget public. The second is a "county-wide drainage physical examination," which advocates updating outdated flood protection standards in each district based on the latest rainfall data. The third is "setting up a public dashboard for sewer construction and maintenance," which hopes to make pipeline progress, dredging schedules, and improvement results in flooded hot spots transparent and open to the inspection of all county residents.

You Yating pointed out that the high-intensity development in the eastern district of Zhubei lacked corresponding drainage capacity and called for a re-evaluation of the carrying capacity; Xu Shengling criticized Xinfeng for not reviewing the drainage for more than 10 years, and the county government should no longer blame "short-delayed heavy rainfall"; Chen Xiumei emphasized that Hukou is an industrial town, and flood control standards have also been stagnant for many years, calling on the county government to come up with a clear project timetable.

Qiu Chenyuan finally reiterated that extreme weather is a natural phenomenon, but prevention and systems are political responsibilities. All those who are interested in seeking the office of county magistrate should give a clear explanation to the county people.

Related news: Blue and white fight against each other in Zhu County! Qiu Chenyuan criticized the inability to control floods. The county government: Don’t confuse the public.