Jeonbuk Province Launches Full-Scale Efforts to Discover Large National Projects

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Seon-gang] Jeonbuk Province announced on the 24th that the 'National Project Discovery Forum,' involving provincial departments, Jeonbuk Research Institute, and experts, will begin full-scale activities by subcommittee to discover new-concept large-scale projects reflecting the latest trends such as convergence projects and smart technologies.

So far, each subcommittee has established forum member composition and roadmaps based on the National Project Discovery Forum operation plan, and starting from the 25th, will begin full-scale activities until October, aiming to discover more than 20 projects that can be promoted with national budgets after 2022.

The discovered projects will be preliminary feasibility study targets with national budgets exceeding 50 billion KRW. To strengthen the discovery of large-scale projects, the budget will be specified to include 10 projects over 100 billion KRW and more than 10 projects over 50 billion KRW.

The National Project Forum will operate with six subcommittees: Convergence, Agriculture-Rural-Maritime, Cultural Tourism Contents, Regional Development SOC, Industrial Economy, and Environment Safety. Each subcommittee will have the head of the relevant department as chairperson, with a research member from Jeonbuk Research Institute and the department’s chief officer serving as co-secretaries.

In particular, reflecting trends suitable for the convergence era, a new Convergence Subcommittee will be established and operated with the Policy Planning Officer as chairperson to discover large-scale projects by strengthening inter-industry linkage and cooperation beyond the boundaries of individual projects.

To encourage active participation from provincial departments and ensure substantial operation, an additional operational secretary will be appointed as the provincial working-level manager, and monthly reports on subcommittee forum activities will be submitted.

Also, to specify and commercialize discovered items, the forum member composition will be expanded nationwide beyond the local area to include a broader pool of experts, and item discovery will begin in earnest.

Discovered items will go through procedures such as project feasibility evaluation, joint meetings, and detailed project plan preparation, with final confirmation planned through a report in October.

Kim Mi-jung, Policy Planning Officer of Jeonbuk Province, said, “Through the operation of this National Project Discovery Forum, we are focusing on discovering differentiated convergence innovation tasks that can drive new-concept large-scale projects reflecting the latest trends and mid- to long-term future development.”