Smart Challenge Expanded to 44 Locations... Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Accelerates 'Korean New Deal'.

The integrated operation center of Incheon Songdo Smart City.

[Asia Economy Reporter Kangwook Cho] The 'Korean New Deal' in the land, infrastructure, and transport sector will accelerate through the smart city transformation of cities nationwide and the expansion of green mobility.

On the 16th, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced this year's major work plans containing these details during the 2021 work report held at the Blue House with President Moon Jae-in in attendance. In the report, the Ministry presented key policy tasks including ▲inclusive housing stability ▲balanced national development ▲innovation in the land, infrastructure, and transport industry ▲a safe and convenient living environment for the public.

Promoting Smart Urban Spaces, Preparing for the Era of Autonomous Vehicle Commercialization

The Ministry plans to actively promote the Digital New Deal to enhance public experience of innovative services integrated with advanced technologies.

First, through the smart city project, it will promote the smart transformation of urban spaces. By December this year, Busan will begin occupancy in residential complexes, and Sejong will complete the creation of service experience spaces, visualizing the achievements of national pilot cities.

In the second half of the year, a new project will be prepared to create specialized cities led by local governments (selection of project sites), and the Smart Challenge will be expanded from 18 to 44 cities to support the nationwide spread of excellent services.

Additionally, autonomous vehicle pilot operation zones will be operated in six regions including Seoul, and infrastructure for autonomous cooperative driving will be established nationwide by 2025 to prepare for the era of autonomous vehicle commercialization.

Drone delivery will start within island and mountainous areas by the end of the year, and various drone service demonstrations will continue through the operation of special drone deregulation zones.

Expanding Green Remodeling Projects... Leading '2050 Carbon Neutrality'

Alongside this, the Ministry will lead '2050 Carbon Neutrality' in the land, infrastructure, and transport sector through the Green New Deal.

Green remodeling projects for public buildings will be expanded, and the creation of zero-energy cities such as energy-specialized cities and hydrogen cities will be promoted. This year, green remodeling projects will be carried out for about 1,000 public buildings and 83,000 public rental housing units.

By 2025, a zero-energy specialized city will be created in the 684,000㎡ area of Dangsudong 2 District in Suwon, and in 2022, Ulsan, Ansan, Jeonju, and Wanju will be developed as hydrogen cities.

Green mobility will also be expanded through the increase of eco-friendly vehicles and the expansion of charging infrastructure. In particular, a hydrogen fuel subsidy project for commercial vehicles will be launched, and by 2022, 60 hydrogen charging stations will be installed on major expressways, with a hydrogen transportation complex base to be established by November next year, thereby actively building the hydrogen transportation infrastructure.

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