Gwanak-gu Allocates 9 Billion KRW Supplementary Budget for COVID-19 Response

Establishing a Foundation for COVID-19 Recovery: Revitalizing Local Economy, Emergency Fund Support, Alleviating Resident Anxiety... Creating 205 Public Jobs Including Livelihood Stability, Disaster Specialist Counselors for COVID-19 Affected Residents

[Asia Economy Reporter Jong-il Park] Gwanak-gu (Mayor Park Jun-hee) has prepared a supplementary budget proposal worth 9 billion KRW, containing urgent COVID-19 response measures such as revitalizing the local economy, expanding public jobs, and alleviating residents' anxiety, and submitted it to the Gwanak-gu Council on the 9th.

This supplementary budget focuses on establishing a foundation for COVID-19 damage recovery to ease the economic shock experienced by local small business owners due to COVID-19 and to reduce the suffering of residents directly affected by job losses and other impacts.

Additionally, to secure available funds, the district conducted a comprehensive review of ongoing projects and reduced budgets expected to be unused as much as possible to utilize them as supplementary budget resources, reflecting a strong will to jointly resolve residents' difficulties caused by COVID-19.

The supplementary budget resources will utilize ▲ the net surplus from the 2019 fiscal year settlement (3 billion KRW) ▲ national and local government subsidies (1.47 billion KRW) ▲ various financial incentives (350 million KRW) and expenditure budget secured by reducing existing projects (▲4.2 billion KRW).

Key projects in the local economy revitalization sector include providing emergency funds to small business owners and enhancing local economic vitality by investing a total of 4.4 billion KRW in 10 projects such as ▲ additional establishment of the Small and Medium Enterprise Development Fund (350 million KRW) ▲ additional issuance of Mobile Gwanak Love Gift Certificates with discount compensation (100 million KRW) ▲ Our Neighborhood Artterior Support Project (310 million KRW).

Major projects in the public job sector aim to stabilize livelihoods by providing jobs to residents affected by COVID-19, investing a total of 2.26 billion KRW in 21 projects including ▲ COVID-19 affected residents' livelihood stabilization jobs (891 million KRW) ▲ operation of commercial district vitality keepers (273 million KRW) ▲ youth employment support job projects (249 million KRW).

Based on this, the district will create a total of 205 jobs, including 100 personnel supporting COVID-19 response tasks, 102 departmental auxiliary staff such as Gwanak Love Gift Certificate guides, and 3 specialized personnel such as radiologists, clinical pathologists, and disaster counseling experts at the public health center.

Furthermore, to proactively and preemptively respond to COVID-19 and strengthen the capacity to handle new infectious diseases, the district will invest 1.82 billion KRW in 7 projects including ▲ emergency welfare (760 million KRW) ▲ comprehensive management of new infectious disease crisis situations (973 million KRW), and 530 million KRW in 6 urgent projects such as smart city services.

Gwanak-gu has expanded public work jobs in the livelihood economy by 190 people to quickly respond to COVID-19 damage, providing jobs to a total of 500 residents, and significantly lowered the interest rate on loans from the Small and Medium Enterprise Development Fund to the 0% range (0.8%).

Private multi-use facilities and small academies or tutoring centers that voluntarily participated in business suspension receive up to 1 million KRW in suspension support funds, and private kindergartens that closed temporarily receive up to 5 million KRW in subsidies, demonstrating multifaceted efforts to overcome COVID-19 together with residents.

To strengthen continuous infectious disease response capabilities, the district plans to install a permanent screening clinic on the first floor of the public health center and install book sterilizers in public libraries to create a safe living environment.

Additionally, to counsel residents psychologically affected by COVID-19, the district has hired professional counselors with disaster experience to operate a mental health welfare center and produced and distributed content under the theme "Overcome COVID-19! Gwanak-gu, Cheer Up!" to provide residents with moments of laughter and healing, demonstrating meticulous administration that cares even for wounded hearts.

Park Jun-hee, Mayor of Gwanak-gu, stated, “This supplementary budget focuses on minimizing the shock to small business owners suffering economic difficulties due to COVID-19 and supporting residents' livelihood stability. Once the supplementary budget is approved by the district council at the end of April, we will be fully prepared to execute it immediately.”

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