Hwachun-gun Governor Guchung-gon Aims to Make Hwasun a K-Bio Hub... Fostering 'Vaccine and Bio Industry'

[Hwasun=Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Ji-woon] Gu Chung-gon, the governor of Hwasun County, Jeollanam-do, said on the 2nd, “Over the past three years of the 7th local government, we have continuously attracted large-scale national research and support institutions in the vaccine and bio sectors, enhancing the growth potential of the Hwasun Vaccine Industry Special Zone,” adding, “We will attract additional large-scale national projects to upgrade the future growth engine and leap forward as a K-Bio hub.”

Governor Gu cited the following as major achievements during the three years of the 7th local government: ▲successful infectious disease, livelihood, and economic quarantine ▲attraction of national projects in vaccine and bio sectors and selection of public offering projects worth 300 billion KRW ▲opening of the 700 billion KRW budget era ▲expansion of living SOC and improvement of residential environment ▲expansion of universal welfare such as public safety, transportation, and educational welfare ▲Jeollanam-do’s first certification as three major friendly cities.

The county gained attention by implementing bold COVID-19 livelihood and small business support policies, providing 45 billion KRW in 11 projects focused on direct and universal support.

Support was also provided for disaster basic income (total payment of 12.347 billion KRW), Hwasun-type disaster livelihood support fund (7.924 billion KRW), emergency management stabilization funds for small business owners (3.367 billion KRW), and disaster support funds for farmers and fishermen (approximately 830 million KRW).

The support funds were paid in the form of local currency, Hwasun Sarang Gift Certificates, revitalizing the local commercial district.

Governor Gu’s plan to complete the blueprint of the “New Economic Map” and create a virtuous cycle ecosystem of growth and jobs is also gaining momentum by attracting vaccine and bio projects.

Representative projects include the National Vaccine Productization Technology Support Center (total project cost 28.3 billion KRW), the Immunocyte Therapy Industrialization Technology Platform Construction (20 billion KRW), the National Immunotherapy Innovation Platform (46 billion KRW), and the Biohealth Convergence Knowledge Industry Center (18 billion KRW).

Investment attraction is also active, with investment agreements signed with 47 companies in the vaccine and bio sectors totaling 136.9 billion KRW.

Based on these achievements, the county has recently begun full-scale efforts to attract the K-Bio Lab Hub public offering project with a total project cost of 335 billion KRW and the designation of the National Advanced Medical Complex worth 1.5132 trillion KRW.

Securing national funds, increasing the scale of public offering project attraction, and prudent financial management have also been major achievements, securing momentum for key projects and various welfare policies.

The scale of national fund acquisition, which was about 47.9 billion KRW in 2017, increased to 70?80 billion KRW from 2018, and last year, 87.2 billion KRW was reflected in the government budget for 58 projects.

During the three years of the 7th local government, 154 public offering projects with a total project cost of 301.7 billion KRW were selected. As the scale of national fund acquisition and public offering project attraction increased, the 70 billion KRW budget era was opened in 2019, and last year’s final budget was 76.38 billion KRW.

Governor Gu said, “Based on the three-year achievements, we will focus on fostering the vaccine and bio industry, agriculture and livestock industry, and cultural tourism industry to create a model of balanced development and coexistence between urban and rural areas and a solid future food source for the region,” adding, “We will overcome the COVID-19 crisis, restore vitality to the local economy, expand a dense social safety net, and create a warm welfare community.”

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