Gwangju City to Fully Establish 'Clean Air Industry Cluster' Next Year

Aerial View of the Clean Air Industry Cluster

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Seon-gang] Gwangju Metropolitan City announced on the 13th that the "Clean Air Industry Cluster" will enter full-scale development next year in the Gwangju Bitgreen Industrial Complex, as 14.6 billion KRW for land acquisition and construction costs has been secured in next year's Ministry of Environment main budget.

The "Clean Air Industry Cluster" is a project aimed at developing key technologies to reduce fine dust-causing substances generated from industrial and transportation sectors, which are considered major sources of fine dust in Korea, and concentrating support facilities to help companies apply these technologies on-site.

By establishing a nurturing hub such as pollution emission reduction technologies for industrial and transportation sectors and measurement equipment demonstration complexes, the project will support the entire process from localization of materials, parts, and equipment to commercialization of innovative technologies and products.

In March, the Ministry of Environment decided to establish the "Clean Air Industry Cluster," a core Green New Deal project, on a 30,000㎡ scale (45 billion KRW, fully funded by the national government) in the Bitgreen Industrial Complex by 2022. It secured 2 billion KRW for design costs in the government's third supplementary budget and is currently in the process of selecting basic and detailed design contractors.

Next year, along with acquiring the site for the Clean Air Industry Cluster, the city plans to complete the basic and detailed designs by the second half of the year and aims to start construction in October, accelerating project implementation. In 2022, 24.8 billion KRW will be invested to complete the project.

So far, Gwangju has conducted a feasibility study for establishing the Clean Air Industry Demonstration Complex from May to November to successfully attract and develop the Clean Air Industry Cluster in Gwangju.

The study predicted that the establishment of the Clean Air Industry Cluster would create 2,807 jobs and generate a production inducement effect of 309.8 billion KRW, including 74.9 billion KRW during the preparation phase and 234.9 billion KRW during the operation phase.

Since securing design costs in July, the city has responded swiftly by collaborating with the Ministry of Environment on construction execution methods, conducting preliminary reviews of public building project plans, and signing tailored service agreements with the Public Procurement Service, ensuring that the green convergence cluster project, a key Green New Deal initiative, proceeds stably and ahead of others.

Additionally, the city proposed to the Ministry of Environment and others amendments to the "Act on the Establishment and Support of Green Convergence Clusters," which was submitted to the National Assembly, to promote Gwangju's clean air industry by allowing certification facilities, promotion facilities, and environmental industry councils to be established within the cluster, and to prevent the designation of clusters in the same field in other regions.

The city plans to continuously discover and add necessary policy projects to firmly establish Gwangju as the mecca of the clean air industry.

Kim Seok-woong, Director of the Environment and Ecology Bureau, said, "While demand for the air industry, including fine dust, is rapidly increasing recently, the high dependence on overseas parts and equipment necessitates systematic infrastructure development to foster related industries. We will actively strive to support small and medium-sized enterprises and create sustainable jobs through the Clean Air Industry Cluster."

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