Naju Mayor Kang In-gyu "Welcomes the Enactment of the 'KEPCO University Special Act'"

[Naju=Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Yukbong] Kang In-kyu, mayor of Naju, Jeollanam-do, stated on the 26th, “Korea Energy Engineering University (KEEU) will do its best to provide administrative and financial support so that it can officially open in March next year and become a driving force for national development and a world-class engineering university.”

Mayor Kang, in a statement welcoming the enactment of the special law for KEEU, said, “The enactment of the KEEU law guarantees the permanent legalization of the university’s existence and the smooth opening in March next year,” adding, “This is a milestone achievement in advancing as the energy capital.”

He continued, “I sincerely thank the 120,000 citizens, social organizations in Gwangju and Jeonnam, National Assembly member Shin Jeong-hoon who proposed the special law, the ruling and opposition parties who cooperated across party lines during the bill review process, Jeonnam Province, KEPCO, and various sectors including the provincial and city councils for their interest and efforts.”

Mayor Kang emphasized, “There have been sharp political conflicts regarding various issues related to KEEU, and we will prioritize securing public interest and strive to dispel such concerns and worries.”

Regarding allegations of preferential treatment for the remaining land of Booyoung CC, he stated, “We will prioritize the citizens’ perspective and securing public interest, and negotiate with Booyoung according to the city’s standards and principles.”

Mayor Kang reiterated, “As recently stated in the Industry Committee’s bill subcommittee, we will prioritize public interest and gather opinions from citizens and the city council as much as possible,” promising, “We will do our best to secure infrastructure and public facilities to the maximum extent and, if necessary, recover development profits to prevent any preferential treatment controversies.”

The city plans to accelerate efforts not only to build infrastructure for the university’s normal opening but also to create an industry-academia-research cluster and a large-scale scientific research landmark.

Mayor Kang said, “We will establish an 800,000㎡ ‘industry-academia-research cluster’ to proactively respond to the global 4th industrial revolution trends and continuously challenge to attract national large-scale research facilities,” adding, “We will actively support various administrative procedures for urban infrastructure and campus groundbreaking necessary for the normal opening next year, as well as preparations for using temporary classrooms.”

He added, “To ensure KEEU stands tall as a world-leading energy university, we will build diverse research infrastructure together with Jeonnam Province and KEPCO, firmly establish the energy industry base, and steadily pursue bold preparations and investments for Naju to leap forward as a global energy hub city.”

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