The Local Government Ranked No.1 for Proactive Administration by Companies: 'Jeonnam Yeongam-gun'

KCCI, '2019 Active Administration Excellence Regional Evaluation'
Yeongam-gun Resolves Conflict at Daebul Industrial Complex Median Barrier

Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry

[Asia Economy Reporter Dongwoo Lee] ‘Yeongam-gun, Jeonnam’ was selected as the No. 1 region for proactive administration chosen by companies. ‘Chungju-si, Chungbuk’ was named the No. 1 region for proactive administration friendliness. These regions received high evaluations for actively resolving administrative difficulties faced by businesspeople.

The Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry announced on the 27th that these selections were made based on the results of the ‘2019 Proactive Administration Excellent Region Evaluation’ conducted on 228 local governments nationwide and about 8,800 companies.

This evaluation, conducted for the first time this year as part of the ‘Excellent Business Environment Region Evaluation’ that the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry has been implementing since 2014, was carried out amid recent movements to improve unreasonable regulations and the growing need for ‘proactive administration’ that flexibly applies regulations.

In the ‘Proactive Administration Perception’ evaluation conducted this time, Yeongam-gun, Jeonnam scored 76.8 out of 100 points, ranking first.

Yeongam-gun is a region where the shipbuilding industry accounts for 70% of the local economy, centered around the Daebul Industrial Complex. Due to the many vehicles transporting large shipbuilding equipment, there was a difficulty in turning vehicles as they often got caught on the median strips at major entrances to the industrial complex.

In response, Yeongam-gun Office removed the median strips, installed speed cameras, and repaved crosswalks to ensure residents’ safety, resolving this issue that had persisted for 15 years.

A Yeongam-gun official said, “Yeongam-gun was designated as an employment crisis area and industrial crisis area due to the shipbuilding industry downturn. The efforts of public officials to recover the local economy seem to have led to expanded orders and improved industrial complex conditions, resulting in a good evaluation.”

Gwangsan-gu, Gwangju (76.0 points) was selected as the 2nd place in the Proactive Administration Perception ranking. Following were Yeosu-si, Jeonnam (75.8 points) in 3rd place, Taean-gun, Chungnam (75.3 points) in 4th, and Sejong Special Self-Governing City (75.2 points) in 5th. By grade, there were 11 S-grade regions (including Yeongam-gun, Jeonnam), 59 A-grade regions (including Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi), 90 B-grade regions (including Jecheon-si, Chungbuk), 56 C-grade regions (including Uiwang-si, Gyeonggi), and 12 D-grade regions (including Gangbuk-gu, Seoul).

In the ‘Proactive Administration Friendliness’ category, Chungju-si, Chungbuk took first place with 75.3 points out of 100.

Chungju-si received high marks for listening to the voices of local companies complaining about passive administration and actively addressing the issues. Chungju-si conducted 269 consultations on passive administration damages and resolved 205 cases, accounting for 76% of them.

In particular, for companies facing difficulties in power supply after factory expansions, Chungju-si flexibly interpreted the Building Act to support underground cable installation, and for companies needing hydrogen charging and storage facilities, the deputy mayor personally visited related agencies to reduce the permit period by three months. They also established support grounds for large investment companies, achieving the unique success of attracting the headquarters of a large corporation (Company H) in Chungbuk.

Jeju Special Self-Governing Province (67.9 points), which efficiently utilized the pre-consultation system, ranked 2nd. Bucheon-si, Gyeonggi (66.8 points), which achieved good results in adopting excellent cases, ranked 3rd, and Yesan-gun and Cheonan-si, Chungnam (both 65.3 points), which were active in passive administration consultation and resolution, tied for 4th place.

There was 1 S-grade region (Chungju-si, Chungbuk), 11 A-grade regions (including Jeju Special Self-Governing Province), 66 B-grade regions (including Paju-si, Gyeonggi), 144 C-grade regions (including Songpa-gu, Seoul), and 6 D-grade regions (including Saha-gu, Busan).

The Proactive Administration Excellent Region Evaluation consisted of two parts: ‘Proactive Administration Perception,’ which asks companies’ subjective opinions on local governments’ proactive administration, and ‘Proactive Administration Friendliness,’ which objectively evaluates proactive administration performance. Five grades (S-A-B-C-D) were assigned to 228 basic local governments nationwide according to their evaluation scores, and rankings from 1st to 228th were given.

Lee Kyung-sang, head of the Economic Research Headquarters at the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said, “We will continue to promote proactive administration evaluations in the future to eradicate passive administration and help the culture of proactive administration take root in the public service.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.