The 24th Golden Thumb Awards for PPP have officially been announced! After a rigorous evaluation process and on-site inspections, 15 teams — including the Buddhist Tzu Chi Medical Foundation — were selected for this honor. Notably, both the government agency team and the private institution team for the "Taichung City Renai General Long-Term Care Institution ROT Project" and "The Private Participation for Construction of Sewage System in Puding Urban Planning Area, Taoyuan City" received awards, fully demonstrating the excellent collaboration between the public and private sectors in advancing public infrastructure. This year's Golden Thumb Awards ceremony will be held on October 23, 2026, at the Taipei International Convention Center. The full list of award winners is provided in the attachment.
The" Taichung City Renai General Long-Term Care Institution ROT Project" was jointly advanced by the Taichung City Government and the Buddhist Tzu Chi Medical Foundation, earning the Government Agency Award "Superior Award" and the Private Agency Award "Superior Award," respectively. In response to rising demand for elder care, the Taichung City Government designed this project under the PPP model to bring in professional private-sector care resources for elderly residents. The project successfully attracted investment from the Buddhist Tzu Chi Medical Foundation, which established 200 residential care beds and daytime care services for 60 people. In the first year of operation, the private institution proactively increased the number of subsidized beds specified in the contract from 15 to 30, substantially expanding care capacity for disadvantaged residents. Through rehabilitative and restorative care, the project also helps elderly residents regain independent living abilities — replacing long-term reliance on care institutions with an "enreablment to return home" approach, which creates a diverse and welcoming long-term care base for the elderly while easing the burden on family caregivers.
In addition, the Taoyuan City Government's Water Resources Bureau partnered with HDEC (Puding) Environment Corp. on "The Private Participation for Construction of Sewage System in Puding Urban Planning Area, Taoyuan City." The Taoyuan City Government applied a land-swap strategy to resolve land-related litigation stemming from the termination of a previous contract, and further used subsidies and preferential loans to increase residents' willingness to connect to the sewer system, rapidly raising the citywide public sewerage coverage rate. Facing site constraints following the land swap, HDEC (Puding) Environment Corp. actively shortened the construction schedule to accelerate household connections. The company also took advantage of a 10.9-meter elevation difference at the site to allow wastewater to flow entirely by gravity, eliminating the power needed for conventional influent pumping, significantly reducing electricity consumption, and achieving energy-saving and environmental sustainability benefits.
The Ministry of Finance stated that, in recognition of the outstanding contributions of the award-winning projects, this year's Golden Thumb Awards ceremony is scheduled to be held on October 23, 2026, at Room 101, Taipei International Convention Center. Representatives from all sectors are welcome to attend and join in witnessing the achievements of public-private partnership in public infrastructure, and to congratulate all the winning teams!
The latest updates are also posted in the Golden Thumb Awards section of the Ministry of Finance's Public-Private Partnership Information System.
https://ppp.mof.gov.tw/WWW/gta/news.aspx
Press release Contact: Section Chief Chuang Ching
Tel.:(02)2322-8218