Geochang-gun Secures 3 Billion KRW Budget for Gyeongnam Small School Revitalization Contest...

Shinwon and Gabuk-myeon Followed by Buksang-myeon Selected

Geochang County Office.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Choi Soon-kyung] Geochang-gun, Gyeongnam Province, secured a budget of about 3 billion KRW, including 500 million KRW from the provincial government, 500 million KRW from the Provincial Office of Education, and 2 billion KRW from LH Corporation (covering more than 80% of the public rental housing construction cost), as Buksang Elementary School in Buksang-myeon was selected for this year’s Gyeongnam Small School Revitalization Contest.

This year’s Gyeongnam Small School Revitalization Contest selects three cities/counties to provide residential spaces to families enrolling or transferring to small schools through the construction of public rental housing, community facilities, and remodeling of vacant houses. This project has been underway since 2020.

Since the inauguration of Mayor Gu In-mo in the 7th term, Geochang-gun has actively promoted small school and regional revitalization projects, recognizing that the closure of small schools in rural areas could lead to the disappearance of local youth and eventual extinction of these areas.

The county’s public rental housing construction project was piloted in Sinwon-myeon and Gabuk-myeon through an agreement with the LH Korea Land and Housing Corporation Gyeongnam Regional Headquarters in February last year to provide housing for families transferring to small schools. Sinwon-myeon is scheduled for completion and occupancy in March this year, and Gabuk-myeon is currently in the process of selecting a construction company.

Additionally, the county was selected for the Gyeongnam Population Policy Contest for two consecutive years in 2020 and 2021, and is currently implementing the ‘Small School Enrollment and Transfer Family Housing Support Project’ with a total budget of 300 million KRW. Fifteen vacant houses in rural areas have been remodeled and are being leased free of charge to families enrolling or transferring to small schools.

With the selection in this year’s Gyeongnam Small School Revitalization Contest, following Sinwon and Gabuk-myeon, Buksang-myeon will also proceed with the public rental housing construction project for the ‘Small School Revitalization Project,’ earning Geochang-gun the reputation as the ‘Mecca city for small school and regional revitalization projects’ in the province.

Mayor Gu In-mo said, “Expanding living infrastructure such as public rental housing construction allows us to expect development in rural areas,” and added, “We will do our best to create a livable hometown by expanding living infrastructure to solve the population extinction crisis.”

Geochang-gun is establishing a response plan for designation as a population decline area to proactively address this issue. It has allocated a supplementary budget for service fees to establish a five-year population vitality plan and a local extinction response fund investment plan, and is currently discovering investment projects.

The county plans to secure up to 12 billion KRW in the local extinction response fund to lay the foundation for becoming a city with population growth.

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