Assemblyman Jo O-seop Proposes Amendment to the Special Act on the Creation and Development of Innovation Cities

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Yoon Jamin] On the 1st, Assemblyman Jo O-seop announced that he has proposed the "Special Act on the Creation and Development of Innovation Cities Partial Amendment Bill (tentatively named the Relocated Public Institutions Regional Act)" to revitalize the local economy through the relocation of public institutions.

This amendment particularly includes provisions that allow local companies to receive tangible benefits due to the relocation of public institutions from the Seoul metropolitan area, ahead of the full-scale implementation of Innovation City Season 2.

Under the current law, the head of a relocated public institution must promote the priority purchase of goods or services produced in the region to which the public institution is relocating, if such goods or services exist.

Additionally, the head of the relocated public institution must notify the Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport of the purchase plans and the previous year's purchase performance of goods or services produced locally.

However, as a result of Innovation City Season 1, only 15.7% of companies relocated from the Seoul metropolitan area, and among them, 93% were small-scale enterprises.

Moreover, the priority purchase rate of local goods by relocated public institutions is only 13.4%.

The amendment proposed by Assemblyman Jo adds cooperation matters between local governments and relocated public institutions to the role of the Innovation City Development Support Center, establishing a basis for comprehensive and systematic cooperation. It also includes provisions for the Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport to publicly disclose the priority purchase plans and performance of relocated public institutions annually, rather than merely notifying them.

Assemblyman Jo said, "Innovation City Season 2 is being promoted with the vision of establishing new regional growth hubs, aiming to increase family relocation rates, expand local talent recruitment, and revitalize corporate settlement. It is necessary for relocated public institutions to establish an active cooperative system with local governments and to disclose purchase performance to prioritize the purchase of goods and services from local companies."

He added, "Leveraging my experience as a spokesperson for the National Balanced Development Committee, I am consulting daily with government ministries and experts to ensure the successful promotion of Innovation City Season 2. We are also preparing a forum related to the relocation of public institutions from the Seoul metropolitan area in the near future."

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