Gwangju Mayor Lee Yong-seop: "Making 2021 a Year to Leap as a Global Leading City"

Budget Proposal Announced in City Council Policy Speech... 6.2817 Trillion Won, 10% Increase from This Year

Focused Investment in AI-Based Gwangju-Type 3 Major New Deals, 11 Future Strategic Industries... Additional Disaster Fund Secured

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Seon-gang] Lee Yong-seop, Mayor of Gwangju Metropolitan City, stated in his policy speech at the Gwangju City Council on the 27th, "We will accelerate the AI-based Gwangju-type 3 Major New Deals to make 2021 a year of leap forward as a global leading city."

The mayor emphasized, "Gwangju City has taken the bold challenge of realizing a carbon-neutral, energy self-sufficient city by 2045, starting first nationwide by pioneering artificial intelligence in this era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. In 2021, we will focus investments on promoting the Gwangju-type 3 Major New Deals, fostering 11 future strategic industries, and constructing Urban Railway Line 2, while also prioritizing revitalizing the local economy, which has been stagnated due to COVID-19."

The total budget proposal submitted by Gwangju City to the City Council amounts to 6.2817 trillion KRW. This is a 10% increase compared to the 2020 original budget and is the largest scale ever.

Despite difficult financial conditions, Gwangju City has drastically reduced current expenses and wasteful spending through rigorous expenditure restructuring, and has allocated the budget to ensure smooth execution of projects ending in the 7th elected administration and ongoing social overhead capital (SOC) projects, considering their execution timing.

The main content of the 2021 budget proposal is to first accelerate the AI-based Gwangju-type 3 Major New Deals.

The city will invest 23.9 billion KRW in the AI-centered Digital New Deal.

Through the AI cluster complex project, the city will start building a national data center and supercomputing system ranked among the top 10 globally in scale and performance, nurture AI talent, and complete the Gwangju-type AI business model, positioning Gwangju to support South Korea as one of the four major AI powers.

For the AI-Green New Deal project, which aims to transform into a carbon-neutral, energy self-sufficient city by 2045, 132.4 billion KRW will be invested.

The city will actively foster green industries such as the future-type smart grid demonstration research project and the establishment of the Redox Flow Battery Certification Center, and will accelerate projects like the municipal arboretum, urban parks, and the Gwangjucheon Arirang Cultural Waterway to realize Gwangju as a green city where people and nature coexist.

The Human New Deal, supporting Gwangju-type jobs based on labor-management coexistence, will receive 9.1 billion KRW.

A Labor-Management Co-growth Support Center will be built in the Bitgreen Industrial Complex, and the Gwangju-type automobile factory (GGM), the nation's first win-win regional job project, is scheduled to begin trial operations in April next year and mass-produce 100,000 completed vehicles annually starting in September.

The city will also actively promote 11 future strategic industries, which are the driving force for regional economic development and future growth engines.

To foster 11 growth industries responsible for future markets such as eco-friendly automobiles, energy, healthcare, and cultural contents, 125 billion KRW will be invested.

In the eco-friendly automobile industry, 48.7 billion KRW will be invested to promote the creation of an eco-friendly automobile parts cluster, establish an eco-friendly automobile parts certification center, and conduct demonstration projects in the Gwangju unmanned low-speed special vehicle regulatory free zone.

The energy industry will receive 18.9 billion KRW to build hydrogen charging stations, provide subsidies for hydrogen fuel cell vehicle purchases, and establish a comprehensive support center for the energy convergence complex.

The medical and healthcare industry will be invested with 9.2 billion KRW to build a micro medical robot development support center and a senior cosmedicare demonstration center, expanding the foundation for the biomedical materials and parts industry.

Additionally, 12.5 billion KRW will be invested in the cultural contents industry to construct an advanced immersive contents cube and operate an e-sports stadium, fostering the cultural contents industry with great expansion potential as a core growth engine of Gwangju, a leading city of the Fourth Industrial Revolution alongside the AI industry.

Furthermore, the air appliance air industry, 5G-based information and communication technology (ICT) industry, smart root industry, optical convergence industry, and kimchi industry will also be steadily promoted.

Next, the city will create a dignified cultural Gwangju imbued with the unique characteristics of Gwangju throughout the city.

117 billion KRW will be invested to brand Gwangju’s uniqueness through representative cultural villages, ecological cultural villages, permanent performances, and Gwangju’s representative foods. Additionally, 44.9 billion KRW will be invested in urban regeneration New Deals such as Gwangju Station, and 17.4 billion KRW in living SOC projects including public library construction.

124 billion KRW will be invested to expand cultural infrastructure such as the Jeong Yul-seong Historical Park and the Gwangju Literature Museum, and 7.6 billion KRW will be invested in constructing open-type gymnasiums (Bitgreen Industrial Complex, Pyeongdong Industrial Complex) and community-based sports centers (Mudeung Stadium, Sangmu Citizen Park).

The city will expand efforts to make Gwangju a good place to give birth and raise children and will actively expand social welfare facilities.

488 billion KRW will be invested in birth and childcare allowances, providing up to 6.8 million KRW for childbirth in Gwangju starting next year. Additionally, 228 billion KRW is allocated to establish Gwangju-type postpartum care public services, support health checkups for young couples with infertility, and provide childcare subsidies, focusing on making Gwangju a child-friendly city.

Moreover, the city will support public Wi-Fi fees at senior centers and accelerate the construction of social welfare facilities such as senior complex facilities in the western area, centers for the disabled, and training facilities for the disabled.

Next, the city will significantly expand urban transportation infrastructure to build a future city foundation.

The construction of Urban Railway Line 2, which held its groundbreaking ceremony last September, has a budget of 304 billion KRW and is expected to contribute to revitalizing the local economy through rapid execution in the first half of the year.

Additionally, 7.3 billion KRW is allocated for the advancement of the next-generation Cooperative Intelligent Transport System (C-ITS), and 4 billion KRW for the expansion of eco-friendly low-floor buses, aiming to establish a future-oriented transportation system.

58 billion KRW will be invested to expand traffic safety facilities such as improvements to child protection zones, expansion of CCTV for monitoring child protection zones, and installation of LED lighting at pedestrian crossings with high traffic accident risks.

The city will build a safe Gwangju resilient to infectious diseases and disasters.

To replenish disaster and emergency funds depleted by COVID-19, an additional 71.1 billion KRW disaster fund will be prepared, and the establishment of the Honam region infectious disease specialized hospital and Gwangju Medical Center will be promptly pursued to enhance the capacity to effectively respond to emergencies such as infectious diseases and disasters.

Mayor Lee Yong-seop said, "2021 is a very important time to leap forward as a global leading city of the post-COVID era and the Fourth Industrial Revolution, to produce tangible results that citizens can feel, and to revitalize the local economy stagnated by COVID-19, thereby invigorating citizens' lives. I ask for the active cooperation of the City Council so that we can open a new tomorrow for a greater Gwangju."

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