Mokpo City Finalized as Opportunity Development Zone... Advancing as a Leading Offshore Wind Power Industry City

Mokpo New Port Hinterland of Approximately 126,000 Pyeong Confirmed as Offshore Wind Power Special Zone

Mokpo City (Mayor Park Hong-ryul) has achieved the great success of being finally designated as an Opportunity Development Zone, a government-led regional balanced development policy.

According to the city on the 21st, the Opportunity Development Zone is one of the core means of regional balanced development under the "Special Act on Local Autonomy Decentralization and Regional Balanced Development," and is one of the key economic policies of the current government promoted by the Presidential Committee on Local Era.

Its purpose is to promote regional balanced development by providing a package of tax and financial support, regulatory exemptions, and improvement of living conditions to encourage large-scale corporate investment in relatively underdeveloped local areas.

Panoramic View of Mokpo New Port [Photo by Mokpo City]

To be designated as an Opportunity Development Zone, the city, which has been responding swiftly since last year, applied in March for the designation of the Opportunity Development Zone in the ‘offshore wind power sector,’ a future strategic industry of the region, targeting about 126,000 pyeong of the Phase 1 New Port hinterland complex. It was finally designated through the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy’s practical review and the Local Era Committee’s deliberation.

Mokpo New Port is evaluated as the only and optimal specialized port in Korea that meets all conditions to support the creation of a large-scale offshore wind power generation complex, and is emerging as a key hub port for the domestic offshore wind power industry amid the global expansion of renewable energy.

With the designation of the Opportunity Development Zone, an investment environment capable of attracting large-scale companies will be established, forming a related industry value chain and creating a new industrial ecosystem, which is expected to give momentum to Mokpo City’s establishment as a hub city for the domestic offshore wind power industry.

Mokpo City plans to use the newly designated Opportunity Development Zone as a stepping stone to propose solutions for the region’s future leap, which is facing structural limitations in economic and industrial aspects, and to create tangible effects such as large-scale corporate inflow, job creation, and population increase through new regional industries.

Furthermore, the city intends to actively promote infrastructure expansion such as the Phase 2 New Port hinterland complex in the future and to apply for additional Opportunity Development Zones to expand the area so that more high-quality companies can settle.

Mayor Park Hong-ryul stated, “The designation of this Opportunity Development Zone is an excellent foundation for our Mokpo City to leap forward as a leading city in the offshore wind power industry,” and added, “We will focus all our attention and capabilities to make it a city where not only companies but also young people and future generations want to work.”

Meanwhile, in April, Mokpo City signed a 300 billion KRW investment agreement in Denmark with Vestas, the world’s No. 1 turbine manufacturer, and Maersk, a global shipping company, to establish a Vestas turbine factory in Mokpo New Port, and is currently conducting practical discussions for groundbreaking early next year.

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