Mayor-elect of the greater Tainan City, Lai Ching-te, announced the first wave of his cabinet appointments on Thursday, all of them high-ranking officials in the current administrations of the Tainan city and county. Lai emphasized that his choices are based on competence alone, rather than political backgrounds.

Greater Tainan mayor elect Lai Ching-te announces the first wave of the appointments in his administration, showing up at the press conference alongside the nine high-ranking officials.

His deputy mayor would be former Tainan County deputy mayor Yen Chun-tsou.

Besides the factor of balancing the power of the city and the county, the new administration hopes to expedite the pace of structural adjustment after the upgrade and merger.

Currently, the nine members of his administration are incumbent officials at Tainan city and county government.

Lai stressed that he picks individuals for their talents, not their political preference.

He's still seeking to invite some other incumbent government officials to join his team.

It is estimated that the greater Tainan government will soon face a debt of 55 billion NTD and a lack of funding of 10 billion NTD.

When asked how to deal with the financial difficulty, Lai says he will try to save money first and look for opportunities to amend the Law of Subdivision of Financial Income and Expenditure.

Lai said at the press conference that his top priority is water regulation.

Former Water Resources Agency chief Chen Shen-hsien is appointed as Convener of the Disaster Relief and Flood Rrevention Commission.

Regarding the issue of where to set up the major office for the government bureaus and whether it is in Tainan city or county, the mayor elect says he has plans in pocket and will release the news when he announces the second wave of his government offcial appointments.