The Outline of the 'Southeast Mega City' Emerges... Foundation for Expanding Metropolitan Public Transportation Network

Measures to Establish Living, Economic, Cultural, and Administrative Communities Including the Construction of a Metropolitan Public Transportation Network

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Saeyan] The blueprint for the ‘Southeast Mega City,’ emerging as a strong alternative to the concentration in the metropolitan area and the extinction of local regions, has been unveiled.

On the 29th, Gyeongsangnam-do held the 2nd interim report meeting for the research project on ‘Establishing a Development Plan for the Southeast Region,’ jointly conducted by the Busan, Ulsan, and Gyeongnam Research Institutes.

The Southeast Mega City is fundamentally designed to connect the metropolitan areas of Busan, Ulsan, and Gyeongnam and their surrounding wide areas into living and economic zones, establishing a flexible network.

The joint research team from Busan, Ulsan, and Gyeongnam concluded that the Southeast region should be united as a living community, economic community, and cultural community.

In the living community sector, opinions were presented on the early introduction of the wide-area railway between Bujeon and Masan connecting Gyeongnam and Busan for a one-hour daily living zone, expansion of the wide-area railway network including the Yangsan Line (Busan Nopo?Gyeongnam Yangsan), Donghae Nambu Line (Busan Ilgwang?Ulsan Taehwagang), and extension from Hadan to Noksan Jinhae, as well as the introduction of wide-area express buses, transfer convenience, and fare reductions.

In the economic community sector, proposals included establishing a Northeast Asia logistics research and development (R&D) hub, fostering hydrogen as a future energy specialized industry in the Southeast region, and enhancing linkage and cooperation among R&D special zones and innovation institutions within the Southeast region to create jobs and activate startups.

In the cultural community sector, the core is to provide differentiated tourism and recreation from the metropolitan area based on the history, culture, and natural resources of Busan, Ulsan, and Gyeongnam by creating the Southeast region’s historical and cultural tourism belt, global marine tourism complex belt, and ecological and recreational specialized belt.

The province plans to form its own support team in early February aiming for the launch of the Southeast Wide-area Special Union in January next year.

In April, Busan, Ulsan, and Gyeongnam plan to jointly establish a Busan-Ulsan-Gyeongnam joint promotion team responsible for the affairs related to the launch of the wide-area special union.

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