Busan City Prepares National Assembly Response Strategy to Secure State Funds... 'State Fund Securing Task Force' Begins Full-Scale Activities

Busan City Hall.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Hwang Du-yeol] Busan City held the "2023 Government Budget National Assembly Response Strategy Meeting" on the 21st at the city’s Seoul Headquarters office to ensure that even one more project could be reflected in the 2023 government budget.

The meeting was attended by the economic special advisor, the chief of the planning office, Seoul Headquarters officials, National Assembly cooperation officers, and financial cooperation officers.

Busan City expects the full-scale budget negotiation period to begin starting with the President’s budget speech on the 25th.

As a result of the meeting discussions, the city will finalize the projects targeted for budget increases focusing on campaign projects and the Busan-Ulsan-Gyeongnam (Bu-Ul-Gyeong) super-regional cooperation projects, and will prepare securing strategies step-by-step through the standing committees and the Budget and Accounts Committee stages.

In cooperation with local lawmakers from Busan, the city will also actively seek additional projects aligned with the new government’s policy direction to secure the largest-ever national funding.

Furthermore, projects aimed at Busan’s future and improving citizens’ quality of life, such as the “Design cost for the prompt construction of Gadeokdo New Airport” (1 billion KRW), “Design cost for establishing the Nakdong River basin drinking water supply system” (13.5 billion KRW), and “Design cost for the national facility improvement and operation project of the Bujeon~Masan electric train” (1 billion KRW), will definitely secure national funding.

Since September, the city’s department heads and bureau chiefs have been directly visiting the National Assembly and the Ministry of Economy and Finance to do their utmost to secure national funds.

Following the strategy meeting, the “National Fund Securing Promotion Team (National Assembly Resident Unit),” led by the Deputy Mayor for Economic Affairs with support from the Chief Policy Officer and the economic special advisor, will also begin early operation from the 24th.

Park Hyung-jun, Mayor of Busan, said, “Although the conditions for securing national funds are not favorable as the government shifts its stance from expansionary to sound fiscal policy, we will do our best until the government budget is passed by the National Assembly. We will broadly carry out budget increase activities in cooperation with the local political circles.”

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