Naju City Faces Backlash Over "Push-Through" Administration in Installing Public Postpartum Care Center

Land for Industry-Academia-Research Cluster in Innovation City Where 'Sanhujoriwon' Cannot Be Established

A banner put up by the Promotion Committee of Commercial Complex Blocks 5 and 6 in Bitgaram-dong, Innovation City, opposing the change of land use for the hospital cluster site.

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Yukbong] Naju City in Jeollanam-do is facing criticism for "push-through administration" that ignores laws by promoting Jeollanam-do’s ‘Public Postpartum Care Center 4th Branch Contest Project’ on land where neighborhood living facilities are restricted.

The Jeollanam-do project to establish ‘Public Postpartum Care Centers’ to improve the poor rural birth environment began in 2015. Starting with the 1st branch at Haenam General Hospital in September of the same year, the 2nd branch opened at Gangjin Medical Center in May 2018, and the 3rd branch at Wando Daeseong Hospital in 2019.

In 2018, Jeollanam-do launched the ‘Public Postpartum Care Center 4th Branch Contest Project’ and selected 828㎡ on the 2nd floor of Bitgaram Hospital in Bitgaram-dong, Naju City as the ‘4th Branch’. A budget of about 500 million KRW was allocated by Jeollanam-do.

Naju Bitgaram Hospital purchased the relevant land within the Industry-Academia-Research Cluster at 1,277,000 KRW per 3.3㎡, started construction in August 2018, and opened on April 13, 2020. The hospital was selected for Jeollanam-do’s ‘Public Postpartum Care Center’ project on October 25, 2018, before it even opened. Jeollanam-do approved the project plan on December 11 of that year.

However, the land proposed by Naju City for Bitgaram Hospital was a second-priority supply site within the Industry-Academia-Research Cluster in the Innovation City where a ‘postpartum care center,’ classified as a first-class neighborhood facility, is not permitted.

Regarding this, a Jeollanam-do official said, “We only reviewed the documents submitted by Naju City and did not realize the location was problematic,” adding, “We requested Naju City to appropriately change the land use for the project site, and if the project becomes difficult by October 31, we plan to recover the allocated budget.”

As a result, Naju City and Jeollanam-do proceeded with the project and allocated the budget by anticipating a land use change in advance on a site where a ‘postpartum care center’ cannot be established, based on a project plan submitted by a hospital that had not yet opened.

This backward approach by Naju City to attract the ‘postpartum care center’ sparked opposition from residents of the 5.6 block of the Bitgaram-dong neighborhood commercial area.

They argued, “Although commercial land in Innovation City has been purchased and traded at up to about 15 million KRW per 3.3㎡, there has been no case of land use change through ‘district unit plan’ amendments,” and “Changing the use of ‘medical land’ supplied below development cost to a first- and second-class neighborhood facility to install a ‘postpartum care center’ not permitted by law is nothing but a special favor and a typical push-through administration.”

On October 1, 2019, Naju City requested the ‘Innovation City Development Committee’ to review the possibility of installing a ‘Public Postpartum Care Center’ within Bitgaram General Hospital. The committee decided to reconsider after discussing the need for prior review of the impact on the entire Innovation City or nearby commercial areas and the formation of a working group of experts from Gwangju, Jeonnam, and Naju City.

The ‘Innovation City Development Committee’ planned to hold a reconsideration meeting on the 8th but will replace it with a written review and announce the results due to the spread of COVID-19.

The final authority for changes to the ‘district unit plan’ within Innovation City lies with the Mayor of Naju City. The city passed the responsibility to the ‘Innovation City Development Committee’ on an issue that could become a political burden due to administrative oversight.

“All administration should be conducted fairly according to laws to avoid criticism,” and “Even when necessary facilities are introduced, there are those who benefit and those who suffer losses, so it would have been much better if there had been procedures such as ‘public hearings’ to collect and reflect residents’ opinions,” said A (58), a resident of a nearby commercial area, expressing regret over Naju City’s administrative handling.

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