Joint Development of Geumrando and Janghang Port Fishing Wharf... Regional Win-Win Cooperation Agreement Signed

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Joo Sang-don] The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries announced on the 24th that it signed a written agreement on the 23rd with Jeonbuk, Chungnam, Gunsan City, and Seocheon County for 'Mutual Cooperation in the Gunsan-Seocheon Area.'

Gunsan Port and Janghang Port, located at the mouth of the Geum River, face each other and are ports where sediment continuously accumulates, requiring annual dredging. Since 1980, a disposal site (Geumrando) equivalent to 0.7 times the size of Yeouido (2.02 million square meters) has been gradually created between Gunsan Port and Janghang Port to accommodate dredged soil.

Geumrando has good accessibility to the old downtown area of Gunsan City, and there have been ongoing development discussions. However, due to concerns from the Seocheon area about the environmental impact on the Geum River estuary, there were disagreements, and actual development was delayed for a long time. Separately, the Janghang Port fishing harbor pier in the Seocheon area has had its fishery support functions relocated to a newly established nearby fishing harbor pier, creating a need for maintenance and environmental improvement of the existing fishing harbor pier.

Accordingly, to enable all related areas to benefit from redevelopment, a regional mutual cooperation redevelopment plan linking Geumrando and the Janghang Port fishing harbor pier was prepared. Based on this, a recent agreement between the regions was reached, enabling the signing of this agreement.

Through this agreement, the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries and each local government agreed to cooperate mutually to promote the redevelopment of Gunsan Port and Janghang Port, expand and maintain port and fishing harbor facilities, and secure disposal sites for dredged soil. Additionally, they agreed to establish a regional mutual cooperation council, designate high-level responsible officials, and form a working-level consultative body to build a continuous communication system.

To ensure the execution power of the regional mutual cooperation agreement, the Ministry plans to newly include the Geumrando redevelopment project and the Janghang Port fishing harbor pier redevelopment project in the '3rd Basic Plan for Port Redevelopment,' which is scheduled to be announced by the end of this year. Starting next year, the regional mutual cooperation council will be fully activated, and detailed matters such as the direction and content of the redevelopment of Geumrando and Janghang Port fishing harbor pier will be determined through close consultation with the regions, along with plans to discover additional mutual cooperation projects.

Moon Sung-hyuk, Minister of Oceans and Fisheries, said, "This agreement will serve as a model case of mutual cooperation for port area development and will be an important foundation for the two regions to develop together. We will do our best to promote the redevelopment of Geumrando and Janghang Port in cooperation with the regions so that the ports transform into a venue for enhancing regional economic vitality and harmony."

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