Confusion in Gwangjin-gu After Seoul Smart Solution Anchor Project Plan Established but Budget Not Allocated

Kim Ho-pyeong, Chair of the Seoul City Council Budget and Accounts Committee, Urges Seoul City to Allocate Budget for Smart Solution Anchor Project

[Asia Economy Reporter Jong-il Park] Kim Ho-pyeong, Chairman of the Seoul Metropolitan Council's Budget and Accounts Special Committee (Democratic Party, Gwangjin 3), pointed out that Seoul's Smart Solution Anchor project is not being carried out as originally planned, causing confusion in the autonomous districts actually implementing the project.

Gwangjin-gu was selected in August 2020 for Seoul's Smart Process Innovation project in the clothing manufacturing cluster to revitalize the sewing industry and received 500 million KRW in city funds but failed to execute the budget and returned it to Seoul City.

Gwangjin-gu judged that the original project site at 626-16 Junggok-dong was inconvenient due to the aging building and lack of an elevator, and although it sought another site, securing a project site of about 100 pyeong was difficult.

Meanwhile, the district considered relocating to the Gwangjin Economic Hub Center in Guui-dong, but during consultations, Seoul City stated that locations not part of the cluster were not eligible for the project, making project implementation impossible, and suggested pursuing the project under the larger-scale Smart Solution Anchor project as an alternative.

However, Seoul City's selection criteria for the public contest state that if the Smart Process Innovation project and the Smart Solution Anchor project are pursued simultaneously, a deduction is applied in the ‘Project and Facility Overlap and Equity’ evaluation item, which accounts for 30% of the total evaluation score for location conditions. After review, the subsidy related to the previously granted Smart Process Innovation project was returned.

According to materials requested by Chairman Kim Ho-pyeong from Seoul City, site selection is comprehensively judged based on location conditions and development potential, but there has been no case where both the Smart Process Innovation project and the Smart Solution Anchor project were supported in a single autonomous district.

Seoul City's Economic Policy Office established the 'Smart Solution Anchor Creation and Operation Improvement Plan' (draft) in September last year and intended to designate additional Smart Solution Anchors through a district public contest. However, when preparing and submitting the 2022 budget, it did not include a budget related to the installation of new Smart Solution Anchors, and since the budget was not allocated, the related contest was not conducted.

Chairman Kim Ho-pyeong said, “Although resources may have been insufficient due to allocations such as COVID-19 survival support funds, if budget allocation does not accompany projects for which policies have been established and consultations held with autonomous districts, administrative confusion in the districts is inevitable,” and requested Seoul City to allocate the related budget through supplementary budgets if necessary.

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