Implementation Rate of Pledge Projects Rejected in Public Contest: '50%?' Suspected Exaggeration

Kim Han-jong, Jangseong County Governor, Announces 45.5% Progress Rate on 55 Pledge Projects

100% of Projects Lack Secured Funding and Start Dates

County Official States "Performance Checked Based on Pledge Achievement Indicators"

There are suspicions that the fulfillment rate of Kim Han-jong, the 8th elected Jangseong County Governor's public pledge projects, has been inflated. Among some residents, there are even criticisms that they are being mocked with indicators that are difficult to verify.

According to Jangseong County on the 26th, the county announces the quarterly progress performance for achieving project goals on the county website.

Looking at the data announced on September 30, Governor Kim's 55 public pledge projects include 11 completed and 44 progressing normally. The overall progress rate was announced as 45.5%.

However, looking in detail, the fulfillment rate of projects that failed to be selected in competitions and thus failed to be attracted is set at 50%, and projects without secured budgets and unknown start dates are announced as 100%, leading to criticisms of 'inflated pledge fulfillment.'

The pledge for the 'Future Advanced Semiconductor Industrial Complex Development' project, worth 2.4 trillion KRW, was effectively a failure as it was excluded from the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy's designation of specialized complexes. However, the county announced the pledge fulfillment rate as 50%.

Governor Kim Han-jong originally pledged to attract a semiconductor specialized complex on about 3 million pyeong in Nam-myeon, Jangseong County, and Jinkok-dong and Sinryong-dong in Gwangsan-gu, Gwangju.

The county, together with Gwangju Metropolitan City and Jeonnam Province, made multifaceted efforts such as National Assembly forums and competition briefings, but ultimately failed to be selected as a specialized complex on July 20.

Also, the pledge fulfillment rate for the 'Jangseong Hwangryong to Gwangju Imgok Local Road Improvement Project' was announced as 100%. This was because it was reflected in Jeonnam Province's road construction and management plan.

However, among the total expected project cost of 120 billion KRW anticipated by the county, no budget has been secured, and it is only reflected in the provincial management plan and will proceed according to priority projects. In other words, it is uncertain when it will be implemented.

Additionally, projects such as 'Support for resource-circulating livestock machinery and equipment and expansion of agricultural public benefit payments' are projects that local residents must know about, but there has been no large-scale media promotion at all.

Governor Kim's total budget for public pledge projects is 3.7653 trillion KRW. Among these, the semiconductor industrial complex development pledge (which failed to be attracted) classified as 'after the current governor's term' accounts for 2.4 trillion KRW (63.7%). This pledge even ended in failure.

Most of the remaining 54 projects are small-scale projects, organizational restructuring, or projects impossible without national or provincial subsidies, leading to evaluations that the number of pledge projects is just inflated, a 'glossy but worthless fruit.'

Regarding this, a Jangseong County official explained, "It is not an inflation of the fulfillment rate. We set our own indicators and calculated based on those standards," adding, "In the case of the local road improvement project, it is difficult to be reflected in Jeonnam Province's basic plan, but we included it and thus calculated it as 100%."

He also added, "Although the semiconductor industrial complex development ultimately failed, we recognized the efforts made while preparing for the competition and regarded it as 50% pledge fulfillment."

Jangseong = Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Jo Han-gyu yjm3070@asiae.co.kr

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