64 Small and Medium Cities to Develop 'Smart Cities'... 256 Billion Won Invested

[Asia Economy Reporter Kangwook Cho] The government plans to develop 64 small and medium-sized cities into ‘Smart Cities’ by 2025. A total of 256 billion KRW in national and local funds will be invested in this project.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced on the 23rd that it will hold a three-day public contest from the 27th to the 29th of next month to select local governments to participate in the ‘Small and Medium-sized City Smart City Development Project’.

The ministry explained that although it has demonstrated about 240 smart city services in 64 cities nationwide through previous smart city-related projects, participation from small and medium-sized cities has been limited, so the scope has been expanded.

In particular, the project will be promoted as a model where residents participate from the planning stage of the smart city to the solution construction and operation stages. To improve urban services, residents of the respective areas will identify problems and set plans and goals for solutions, and the government and supporting organizations will provide consulting support.

Starting next year, the government will select 16 basic local governments annually as project targets and support 4 billion KRW per location (50% national funds, 50% local funds). The budget for next year is 64 billion KRW, with a total of 256 billion KRW invested over four years.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport will select 16 locations in early February next year through written and presentation evaluations conducted by an evaluation committee composed of external experts in each field, and then proceed with the solution construction project for one year.

Meanwhile, the ministry plans to announce a project by January next year to discover and demonstrate new innovative technologies to be applied to smart cities.

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