Seoul City, Kolon, Save the Children, and Eunpyeong-gu Sign MOU for Renovation of Aging Playgrounds

4-Party Business Agreement Signed
Renovation of Eunpyeong-gu Saerok Children's Playground from Dull and Old to a Playground Children Want

Seongdong-gu Doseon Children's Playground

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] Seoul City announced on the 29th that it has signed a business agreement with Kolon, Save the Children, and Eunpyeong-gu to promote a private-led children's playground improvement project at Saerok Children's Park in Eunpyeong-gu.

Since 2015, Seoul City has combined corporate social contribution activities with children's playground improvement projects, attracting a total of 3.4 billion KRW in private capital to renovate 12 outdated playgrounds by this year, achieving budget savings. By supporting private sector-led participation, it has contributed to establishing a self-sustaining business model.

A total of five companies have participated in the public-private cooperative children's playground renovation, among which Kolon has actively participated in improving children's play environments for six years from 2016 to this year by sponsoring project expenses. Save the Children, Kolon's collaboration partner, plays a key role in forming and operating a 'resident council' that allows children and local residents to actively participate throughout the entire project process?from planning, design, and construction to post-creation play activities and maintenance?leveraging its many years of experience and know-how in public-private cooperative projects.

Considering the site conditions located in a densely populated residential area (2,000 households) and local resources such as daycare centers, elementary schools, regional children's centers, and Our Neighborhood Care Centers, the solid operation of the resident council is expected to be directly linked to long-term project outcomes such as sustained demand and community development.

Furthermore, in Eunpyeong-gu, to efficiently reflect the diverse needs of children using play facilities and middle-aged and elderly people using exercise and convenience facilities, the local community center and related departments are actively supporting the operation of the resident council. The district plans to invest its own budget in park environment maintenance linked to the playground improvement project to enhance project feasibility.

The business agreement will be signed among the four parties: Kolon, Save the Children, Seoul Metropolitan Government, and Eunpyeong-gu, and will be conducted non-face-to-face considering the COVID-19 situation. Seoul City will continue to maintain cooperative relationships with private companies and organizations that have sponsored so far and will discover new sponsoring companies to expand public-private cooperative projects.

Choi Yoon-jong, Director of the Seoul Metropolitan Government's Green City Bureau, said, "The project has been promoted through a public-private cooperative approach to improve play environments tailored to children's perspectives," adding, "We thank the companies, organizations, and citizens who actively participated in raising awareness of children's right to play and ask for their continued interest."

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