[Interview] Park Gang-su, Mayor of Mapo-gu: "Reducing Budget Waste to Increase Resident Welfare"

Exclusive Team for Practical Verification of Private Contracts Saves Tens of Billions Through Comprehensive Contract Checks
Reuse of Old Sidewalk Blocks, Establishment of Administrative Property Sharing System... Budget Savings Through Unique Ideas

“From the beginning of my term until now, I have constantly been thinking about ‘how to provide more benefits to more residents with limited resources’ and ‘how to prevent budget waste and use funds efficiently to return them to residents’ welfare,’ while making various efforts.”

In an interview, Park Gang-su, Mayor of Mapo-gu, expressed his concerns about having to simultaneously promote regional development and residents’ welfare with a limited budget.

As the 8th elected administration was launched amid residents’ hopes for welfare improvement and regional development, Mayor Park’s responsibilities were heavier than ever. Accordingly, after long deliberation, he resolved to prevent budget waste through ‘ideas’ and maximize the ‘efficiency of budget management.’

First, upon taking office, Mayor Park immediately improved the operation of negotiated contracts and established a dedicated team for practical verification of negotiated contracts.

The dedicated team for practical verification of negotiated contracts is one of the new systems introduced to improve past practices. It verifies the appropriateness of amounts, contract validity, and contractor eligibility for all negotiated contracts requested for construction, goods, and services, thereby fundamentally blocking unnecessary budget expenditures. Mayor Park said, “By preemptively verifying and decisively eliminating budget waste factors caused by improper practices and unnecessary financial inputs unrelated to improving residents’ lives, we were able to save billions of won.”

Next, Mayor Park incorporated residents’ opinions and fresh ideas into the construction of the Dangin-dong resident convenience facility. He said, “We signed a ‘public-private cooperation agreement’ among Mapo-gu, the design firm, the construction company, and the construction management team to improve and supplement the problems of the existing design, reduce the budget, and accelerate project progress.” He added, “Through this, we added an underground parking lot and convenience facilities that were not in the original design and applied the ‘fast-track method’ to simultaneously proceed with design and construction, saving 8.4 billion won in construction costs and shortening the construction period by nine months.”

In particular, among projects where Mayor Park’s ideas and efficient budget use stand out are the ‘reuse of old sidewalk blocks’ and the ‘establishment of the first administrative property sharing system in a local government.’

Indiscriminate sidewalk block replacement projects have been pointed out as a typical example of budget waste. Although Mapo-gu only carries out maintenance projects on necessary old sidewalks, Mayor Park ordered that even old sidewalk blocks should be reused where needed rather than discarded.

Accordingly, the district recently conducted a demand survey on curb stones and sidewalk blocks generated after the maintenance work on the old sidewalks of Seongsan-ro, and plans to prepare reuse measures for other surplus items that can be reused besides old sidewalk blocks. Mayor Park also said, “In line with the current trend of borrowing and using shared parking lots and shared cars when needed, I considered whether there was a way to share administrative properties that were previously purchased and used separately by each department and institution.” He revealed, “We established the ‘Administrative Goods Sharing System,’ introducing the concept of ‘sharing’ to administrative properties for the first time in a local government.”

The Mapo-gu Administrative Property Sharing System has registered a total of 83 items, ranging from administrative vehicles such as trucks and forklifts to wheelchairs, large shredders, and audio-visual equipment, totaling 2,931 items. This has dramatically improved the previous method of managing goods, which required individual purchase and possession by each department, and is expected to significantly reduce duplicated budget waste. Mayor Park Gang-su expressed his ambition, saying, “As the ‘housekeeper mayor’ and ‘honest mayor’ responsible for the lives of 370,000 Mapo-gu residents, I will lead efficient district administration with a limited budget to create a Mapo-gu where everyone?from young children to people with disabilities and the elderly?can enjoy sufficient welfare benefits.”

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