A projected world trade exhibition and convention center in southern Taiwan's Kaohsiung City is slated to begin operations in 2014 at the latest on the back of an increased budget, a government official said Friday. Lin Sheng-chung, vice minister of economic affairs, divulged the timetable when he was asked, after giving a speech at the southern branch of the Executive Yuan, why Kaohsiung, the largest city in southern Taiwan, still lacks a world- class venue to hold exhibitions and conferences. Stressing that the government is determined to promote the tourism, medical care, logistics services, cultural innovation and exhibition sectors to upgrade and transform Taiwan's economy, Lin noted that the service industry is increasingly playing a prominent role in Taiwan's economy, contributing 73 percent of Taiwan's gross domestic product in 2008. Wang Chang-hua, head of the Kaohsiung office of the Bureau of Foreign Trade under the Ministry of Economic Affairs, said the budget for building the planned Kaohsiung world trade center has been increased to NT$3.68 billion (US$113.2 million) to cope with rising prices of construction materials, up from the previous NT$3 billion. Construction of the facility on a 4.5-hectare piece of land belonging to CPC Corporation, Taiwan, near the Kaohsiung Software Park is scheduled to be completed in 2011, he said. 