Chungnam Officially Designates 'Naepo New City' as Location for Innovation City

[Asia Economy (Naepo) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] Chungnam Province has designated Naepo New Town as the site for Chungnam Innovation City and officially announced it for the first time.

According to the province on the 18th, the day before, the province held the "1st Chungnam Innovation City Advisory Committee" and announced the "Chungnam Innovation City Development Plan."

The development plan serves as review material to be submitted when applying for the designation of an innovation city to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport in line with the enforcement of the revised National Balanced Development Special Act next month.

The development plan comprehensively includes the necessity of designating Chungnam Innovation City, its location, development strategies such as improvement of local industry and residential conditions, and mutually beneficial development with surrounding areas.

In particular, the province specified Naepo New Town as the site for Chungnam Innovation City in the development plan. Naepo New Town is being developed on a scale of 9.95 million square meters in the area of Hongbuk-eup, Hongseong-gun, and Sapgyo-eup, Yesan-gun, along with the relocation of the Chungnam Provincial Government Office.

So far, the province has drawn a blueprint to develop Naepo New Town as an innovation hub in the southern region of Chungnam and a core of the province’s balanced development policy. However, there is an analysis that local institutions and organizations alone have limitations in revitalizing the new town, such as attracting population.

Accordingly, the province selected Naepo New Town as the site for Chungnam Innovation City and plans to devise a strategy to activate three functional groups after the designation of the innovation city: environmental technology, research and development (R&D), and culture and sports. It also plans to focus on attracting public institutions in each functional group sector.

In addition, to improve residential conditions in Naepo New Town, the province intends to focus on attracting large marts and general hospitals, expanding the metropolitan transportation network such as increasing routes for express and intercity buses, and supporting family relocation.

Kim Yong-chan, Vice Governor of the province, said, “Considering that 50% of the country’s total population is concentrated in the metropolitan area and that economic and social aspects are focused there, a balanced second innovation city policy is urgently needed. We will ensure that Chungnam Innovation City (Naepo New Town) plays a role as an innovation hub that newly expands the national development axis from the Gyeongbu axis to the east-west axis and contributes to national balanced development.”