Sang-ik Lee, Hampyeong County Governor, Hustles to Secure National Funding for Current Projects

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Yoon Jamin] Lee Sang-ik, the former mayor of Hampyeong-gun, Jeollanam-do, is working tirelessly to secure additional national funding for local pending projects ahead of the finalization of next year's main budget on the 2nd of next month.

According to Hampyeong-gun on the 12th, Mayor Lee visited the National Assembly that day and met with Lee Nak-yeon, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, and Lee Gae-ho, the local district lawmaker, to request additional budget allocation for next year's pending projects.

Afterwards, he held successive meetings with related standing committee members, including Seo Dong-yong, a ruling party budget committee member, asking for an increase in project funds omitted from the government budget at the standing committee level and for maximum reflection of national funds during the National Assembly budget review process.

The major pending projects Mayor Lee proposed that day include ▲ Construction of the National Livestock Startup Education Center (10 billion KRW) ▲ Drainage improvement project in Hampyeong school district (17 billion KRW) ▲ Dangerous road alignment improvement work on National Road No. 23 (Singwang~Bulgap) (14 billion KRW), totaling 7 projects amounting to 59.8 billion KRW.

Along with the issue of increasing next year's budget, Mayor Lee also requested active party-level support for the ongoing local demands regarding the Honam High-Speed Railway (Phase 2) passing through Hampyeong Station and attracting major companies to the Bitgreen Industrial Complex.

In particular, during the meeting with Lee Nak-yeon, the ruling party leader, Mayor Lee focused on last-minute persuasion by directly explaining the justification and validity of each matter.

Lee Sang-ik, mayor of Hampyeong-gun, said, “Due to the impact of COVID-19, financial conditions for next year are expected to worsen not only centrally but also for local governments. As the National Assembly budget review period is in full swing, we will do our utmost to secure even one more won of national funding until the very last moment when next year’s budget is finalized.”

Meanwhile, next year’s government budget is scheduled to be finalized on the 2nd of next month after deliberations by the National Assembly standing committees and the budget committee by the end of this month.

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