Geographical location of Chiayi City
Chiayi City is located north of the Chianan Plain, west of Alishan, east of the Chiayi Airport, north of the Bazhang River, south of the Puzi River, and 1 km away from the Tropic of Cancer. The city measures approximately 15.8 km wide (from east to west) and 10.5 km long (from north to south) and has a total area of 60.0256 km2. The city is situated next to Chiayi County and features fertile plains, with some hills found in the Zhuqi Township. Topography-wise, the terrain becomes increasingly flat from east to west which mostly comprises wide and flat plains.
Development Positioning and Strengths of Chiayi City
Development Positioning
(1) Building a beautiful, peaceful, artistic, safe, and sustainable city.
(2) Creating an efficient, convenient, prosperous, and informative technology hub.
(3) By engaging in regional collaboration and sub-regional center integration, the Chiayi City government plans to develop Chiayi City into the "door" to Alishan as well as the Yunlin, Chiayi, and Tainan tourism and leisure industries.
Development Strengths (Objectives) of Chiayi City
(1) The cities in the sub-regional centers are strengthened, in order to develop Chiayi into a leading, multi-functional metropolitan area. City and county resources are actively integrated in order to establish favorable communication channels and cooperative relations, and collaborate in promoting developments in fields such as the arts, biotechnology, commercial ports, and the tourism industry.
(2) High-tech industries are developed to promote the transformation of traditional industries.
(3)Cultural arts and natural resources can be combined to create a diversified urban recreation environment.
(4)Core historical and cultural areas are leveraged to reshape local cultural characteristics and the city’s urban image.
Infrastructure
Chiayi's main transportation systems include freeways, provincial highways, high-speed railway, railway, the Chiayi Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system, and air transport.
Railways
The western line of the railway runs through the city, and people (or cargo) can board (or be loaded) at Chiayi Station. The Alishan Line is one of the world's few mountain railways. Most of the passengers travelling from Chiayi City to Alishan are tourists.
High-speed railway and the Chiayi BRT
The Chiayi BRT was built to facilitate travel between the high-speed railway and Taibao City (passing through the Chiayi City downtown area). Travel from the downtown area to the THSR Chiayi Station takes approximately 30 minutes.
Freeways
Freeway 3 runs through the eastern part of Chiayi City. Travel from the downtown area to Freeway 3 takes approximately 15 minutes. Freeway 1 runs alongside the western border of Chiayi City. Travel from the downtown area to Freeway 1 takes approximately 15 min. Freeway 1 is a critical transportation system connecting Chiayi City to other highway systems.
Provincial Highway 82
The east–west Provincial Highway 82 runs through the southern part of Chiayi City and is connected to Freeways 1 and 3.
Air Transport
Chiayi Airport is run by Uni Air and offers direct flights to Kinmen and Magong Airports. Travel from the downtown area to Chiayi Airport takes approximately 15 minutes.
Reservoirs
The Renyitan Reservoir and Lantan Reservoir are the major suppliers of water for Chiayi City, and have total storage capacities of 25.85 million m3 and 9.79 million m3, respectively.
Department Stores/Shopping Centers
Chiayi City has the first large-scale Japanese shopping mall (Nice Plaza) in the Changhua, Yunlin, and Chiayi regions as well as two large department stores (Far Eastern Department Store and Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Department Store); In addition, the city has two major shopping centers, Carrefour and RT-Mart.
Publication Date：11/10/17
