Changwon City's 12-Year Long-Awaited Jinhae Culture Center and Library Finally Begin Construction in the First Half of This Year

Securing the First Supplementary Budget to Fulfill the Wishes of Jinhae Residents

Changwon City Hall, Gyeongnam.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Lee Seryeong] Changwon City, Gyeongnam Province, plans to begin construction of the Jinhae Cultural Center and Library within the first half of this year.

The city announced on the 22nd that it has secured an initial project budget of 4.7 billion KRW for the construction of the Jinhae Cultural Center and Library.

The cultural center, located in Pungho-dong, Jinhae-gu, is planned to have one basement floor and five above-ground floors with a 600-seat performance hall, while the library will have one basement floor and four above-ground floors.

The site area is 17,283㎡, with a total floor area of 12,669.45㎡, and the total project cost is expected to be 57.4 billion KRW.

Changwon City has continuously emphasized the necessity of building the Jinhae Cultural Center and Library to the National Assembly, Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, and Ministry of Economy and Finance, requesting national funding support to create a specialized complex cultural space addressing the lack of cultural facilities in the Jinhae area.

Since the days of the former Jinhae City in 2008, the complex construction had been planned and local residents have persistently demanded its prompt implementation; however, administrative procedures were prolonged due to the Board of Audit and Inspection's criticism of similar and overlapping facility investments and the re-examination of local finance investment and loan reviews.

In November 2019, the city passed the local finance investment project review, establishing the basis for project promotion, and completed the detailed design in October last year.

In the second half of last year, a special grant of 700 million KRW and an additional 4 billion KRW in the first supplementary budget this year were approved by the council, and the city is now in the final stages of administrative procedures ahead of construction starting in the first half of this year.

Mayor Heo Seong-mu stated, “We will definitely begin construction within the first half of this year and continuously secure the budget to fulfill the long-held wish of Jinhae residents over the past 12 years,” adding, “We will do our best in building the Jinhae Cultural Center and Library to ensure that opportunities to enjoy culture are provided evenly.”

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