Sangju Mayor Kang Young-seok: "Integrated New Office Building to Be Constructed in Nakyang-dong by 2027"

Mayor Kang Young-seok of Sangju City held a press conference in the city hall's main conference room on the 11th and officially announced that the area around the old sericulture insect business site in Nakyang-dong, near the current city hall, has been decided as the site for the construction of the integrated Sangju City Hall.

Mayor Kang said, "Today, the Sangju City Hall Construction Promotion Committee decided the construction site based on citizen opinion collection and objective site analysis data from professional organizations," adding, "As the mayor of Sangju, I accept the committee's decision and will now actively promote the construction of the integrated city hall."

Kang Young-seok, Mayor of Sangju City

Since the need for an integrated city hall was raised in 2001, Sangju City has enacted an ordinance for the integrated city hall construction fund and has been accumulating funds annually. However, despite three attempts to promote the construction of the integrated city hall, all efforts were repeatedly unsuccessful.

After Mayor Kang Young-seok took office in the 8th elected term, to address the long-standing issue of constructing the integrated city hall, an ordinance for the formation and operation of the Sangju City Hall Construction Promotion Committee was enacted in the second half of last year, and a 40-member committee including experts and resident representatives was formed.

The Sangju City Hall Construction Promotion Committee narrowed down the candidate sites to Nakyang-dong, Mansan-dong, and Seongdong-dong through seven meetings held from December last year to May this year, conducting in-depth deliberations, research, and discussions to ensure a fair site selection.

In a statement, Mayor Kang said, "For the integrated Sangju City Hall, which will symbolize citizen harmony, to be built, the understanding and support of citizens are essential. If citizens unite their will, we will work hand in hand with the Sangju City Council to create a space that citizens can be proud of."

Mayor Kang also stated, "The current city hall site is planned to attract public institutions suitable for our city. We have targeted several institutions for attraction activities, and we will also consider attracting corporate headquarters and large-scale apartment construction through urban planning changes."

He continued, "I believe residents of the areas not selected as the final site may feel disappointed. However, these two areas will also play important roles as key points for Sangju City's development. We will promote customized development projects to inject new energy into the Mansan-dong area, and develop the Seongdong-dong area in connection with the high-speed rail station and its surrounding district."

At the City Hall Construction Promotion Committee meeting held that morning, the Nakyang-dong area scored 68.1 out of 100 points, Mansan-dong scored 41 points, and Seongdong-dong scored 32.6 points, showing a dominant evaluation for the Nakyang-dong area.

The Nakyang-dong area received significantly higher scores than the other two areas in the resident survey.

Additionally, in a survey of 1,000 citizens, 868 (87%) responded that the construction of the integrated city hall is necessary.

Sangju City plans to promptly proceed with administrative procedures such as feasibility studies, basic plan establishment, requests for feasibility studies from the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, and local finance investment reviews, aiming to start construction in the second half of 2025 and complete it by 2027.

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