Assemblyman Lee Byung-hoon Proposes 3 Bills Considering 'Regional Balanced Development' in National Projects

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Yoon Jamin] A bill has been proposed to require consideration of regional balanced development when selecting and evaluating national research and development projects.

On the 27th, Congressman Lee Byung-hoon (The Democratic Party of Korea·Gwangju Dong-gu Nam-gu Eul) announced that he had proposed three amendments to the National Finance Act, the National Research and Development Innovation Act, and the Industrial Technology Innovation Promotion Act.

The current National Finance Act mandates a preliminary feasibility study for new projects with a total project cost of 50 billion KRW or more and national financial support of 30 billion KRW or more, and the 'Preliminary Feasibility Study Operation Guidelines' stipulate the selection criteria and investigation methods for projects subject to the preliminary feasibility study.

However, the guidelines only apply a 'regional balanced development weighting' to construction projects such as SOC, and do not provide weighting for national research and development projects or intelligent informatization projects.

The amendment requires that when conducting a preliminary feasibility study, the results of regional balanced development analysis be reflected not only for construction projects but also for national research and development projects, which is expected to help resolve the capital region concentration of the enormous national research and development budget amounting to 27.4 trillion KRW in 2021 alone.

By requiring consideration of national balanced development in the selection of national research and development projects and the evaluation of industrial technology innovation projects under the National Research and Development Innovation Act and the Industrial Technology Innovation Promotion Act, it is expected to create a new turning point for the promotion of financial projects such as research and development and intelligent informatization in regions outside the capital area.

Congressman Lee said, “Regions with relatively poor industrial infrastructure face many difficulties in attracting national research and development projects even if they proactively plan and prepare such projects,” adding, “Through this amendment, we will improve the situation where national research budgets are concentrated in the capital region and its vicinity, enabling balanced industrial development among regions.”

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