Kaohsiung City is making an effort to return traditional tribal lands to indigenous people in the southern city.
At a ceremony on Saturday, Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu presented certificates of land ownership to 60 aboriginal households. The move effectively restored land ownership of 110 plots of land covering 100 hectares.
Chen said that in the past, indigenous peoples had to produce official documents in order to reclaim their ancestral lands. But many people did not keep those documents, making it almost impossible to reclaim the land.
Chen said the city government is still reviewing records on the ownership claims of indigenous people to another 17 plots covering about 50 hectares.
The last time Kaohsiung City issued certificates of land ownership to indigenous peoples was in 1973.
Meanwhile, officials in other cities, including Taoyuan, Taichung and New Taipei say that they have also begun returning indigenous lands, or speeding up administrative procedures to make that possible.