Naju-si Holds the 1st Meeting of the Metropolitan Railroad Committee

[Naju=Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Yuk-bong] Jeonnam Naju City (Mayor Kang In-gyu) announced on the 2nd that it held the '1st Meeting of the Metropolitan Railway Committee,' a public-private joint committee for the construction of the 'Gwangju~Naju (Mokpo) Metropolitan Railway Network,' one of the five leading policy tasks, at the city hall.

The meeting was attended by Mayor Kang In-gyu, Yang Bok-wan, former Deputy Governor of Gyeonggi Province for Administration, Jeong Jae-su, former Head of Management at Gwangju Urban Railway Corporation, and Min Young-kwang, former Head of Planning and Coordination at Korea Railroad Corporation.

Seo Sang-kyo, former Director of the Gyeonggi Province Railroad Bureau, and Yoon Hyuk-ryeol, Senior Research Fellow at the Transportation Systems Research Office of the Seoul Institute, who participated in the Metropolitan Railway Committee, submitted their opinions in writing due to scheduling conflicts.

About ten members of the Promotion Team, including Kim Yong-ok, Director of the General Affairs Bureau of Naju City and Head of the Leading Policy Promotion Team, and Jeong Kwon-su, Director of the Safety City Construction Bureau, also participated in the discussions.

The construction of the Gwangju~Naju (Mokpo) metropolitan railway network is considered a key issue among Naju City's five leading policy tasks, which include the restoration of Mahan history and designation as a historical and cultural city, and ecological restoration of the Yeongsan River, all aimed at being adopted as a national agenda for the next presidential election.

The city plans to promote the exchange of human and material resources and establish a win-win development ecosystem by linking the metropolitan transportation network connecting Gwangju, Naju, and Mokpo and creating a single living and cultural belt, thereby resolving population outflow, traffic congestion, and revitalizing the tourism industry.

The committee decided to focus efforts on reflecting the 'Gwangju~Naju (Mokpo) Metropolitan Railway Network Construction Project' in the '4th Metropolitan Area Wide-Area Transportation Implementation Plan,' promoted by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport's Metropolitan Transportation Committee from May last year to May next year, and the '4th National Railroad Network Construction Plan' service, which started in September last year, and to ensure its adoption as a national agenda for the next presidential election.

Additionally, a metropolitan railway network construction citizen promotion committee, encompassing central government ministries, local governments, academia, experts, and civic groups, will be formed to secure momentum for the project, while expanding working-level consultative meetings with related organizations such as Gwangju Metropolitan City and Jeonnam Province.

On the day, Jeon Hyun-woo, a researcher at the Natural Science Research Institute of the University of Seoul, gave a special lecture titled 'Why Metropolitan Railway?' (Subtitle - Metropolitan Railway of Naju and the Southwest Region of Jeonnam) during the meeting.

Researcher Jeon helped the committee members understand by covering the status of metropolitan railway networks in major cities worldwide (cases), the necessity of metropolitan railway networks as a means in the era of climate crisis, the current status and problems of domestic metropolitan railways (such as the concentration of metropolitan network investment in the Seoul metropolitan area), and what is needed for the construction of the metropolitan railway network in Naju, Gwangju, and the southwest region of Jeonnam.

Mayor Kang In-gyu said, "We will do our utmost to ensure that the construction of the Gwangju~Naju~Mokpo metropolitan transportation network, which will be a groundbreaking opportunity for the development of Honam, is reflected in the 4th Metropolitan Area Wide-Area Transportation Implementation Plan promoted by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport," and added, "To successfully promote the project, let us jointly promote the adoption of the metropolitan railway network construction as a national agenda for the next presidential election with Gwangju Metropolitan City, Jeonnam Province, and the relevant local governments."

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