Jeonnam Province Secures Massive National Funding for 'Blue Economy' Initiative... Anticipating Results This Year

[Muan=Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Yoon Jamin] Jeonnam Province has secured a large amount of national budget to promote its core project, the ‘Clean Jeonnam Blue Economy,’ and it is expected that this year’s achievements will become visible.

According to Jeonnam Province on the 4th, regarding the new millennium vision ‘Clean Jeonnam Blue Economy’ roadmap and the additionally discovered 100 major projects, the national budget secured this year amounts to 121 cases totaling 1.6898 trillion KRW, an increase of 461.3 billion KRW (37.5%) from last year’s 79 cases totaling 1.2285 trillion KRW.

The ‘Clean Jeonnam Blue Economy’ is a new millennium vision announced by Jeonnam Province in July 2019, selecting and promoting six major projects with high potential and development possibilities in Jeonnam: energy, tourism, bio, future transportation equipment, agriculture and fisheries, and smart city.

For national budget secured projects by the six major projects, in the energy sector, 23 projects worth 89.6 billion KRW were secured, including the establishment of a mega-scale wind power demonstration base (11.3 billion KRW) and a low-voltage direct current (LVDC) core device certification support base (2 billion KRW) to lead the green new deal in Jeollanam-do in the era of energy transition, as well as the development of intelligent LVDC core technology (8.4 billion KRW).

In the tourism sector, 33 projects with a total investment of 1.1733 trillion KRW are planned to create a tourism hub in the South Coast area, including the Korea Garden Culture Center (1.6 billion KRW), the Jindo branch of the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (200 million KRW), the digital complex cultural center of the National Naju Museum (900 million KRW), the construction of Heuksan Airport (6.9 billion KRW), and the survey and research of the Mahan cultural area in the Yeongsan River basin (4 billion KRW).

In the bio sector, 18 projects totaling 57 billion KRW will be invested to establish a smart medical foundation focused on treating infectious and intractable diseases, including the establishment of the National Cardiovascular and Cerebrovascular Center (4.4 billion KRW) and the Hwasun Biohealth Convergence Knowledge Industry Center (1 billion KRW), as well as the advanced precision medical industrialization platform (5 billion KRW) and the establishment of a global vaccine industrialization base (6 billion KRW).

Regarding future transportation equipment, 25 projects worth 82.9 billion KRW will be supported, including the establishment of an LNG cryogenic insulation system localization demonstration center (2 billion KRW), the development and demonstration of mixed fuel technology for eco-friendly ships (6 billion KRW), and the construction of an e-mobility specialized knowledge industry center (4.1 billion KRW), aiming to steadily foster the future transportation equipment industry based on green energy.

For future life industries in response to climate change, 21 projects in the agriculture and fisheries sector totaling 251.9 billion KRW have been secured, including the Fishing Village New Deal 300 (159.4 billion KRW), the promising new subtropical crop demonstration center (9 billion KRW), the cultivation of export-strategic seaweed processing industry (1.1 billion KRW), and the smart farm big data center (2 billion KRW).

Additionally, in the smart city sector, infrastructure for creating a new ecological city will be established through projects such as the construction of the Yeongam-Haenam enterprise city access road (35.1 billion KRW).

Based on the ‘Blue Economy 100 Major Tasks Roadmap,’ this year, the third year since the vision was established, the provincial government is focusing its administrative capabilities to produce tangible results in the core Blue Economy projects that residents can feel.

Furthermore, since the ‘Korean New Deal’ and Jeonnam’s ‘Blue Economy’ share the same goal of advancing the economic structure and creating sustainable jobs, it is expected that project promotion will gain further momentum.

Myeong Changhwan, Director of Planning and Coordination at Jeonnam Province, said, “Based on the Blue Economy 100 Major Tasks Roadmap and the recently announced Jeonnam-type New Deal comprehensive plan based on the Blue Economy, we will lead national-level support,” adding, “We will create sustainable growth engines for Jeonnam to make it newer, cleaner, and happier.”

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