[Asia Economy (Gwangju) = Reporter Lee Young-gyu] Lee Jae-myung, Governor of Gyeonggi Province, stated his intention to prevent and regulate indiscriminate mountain development, which greatly lowers residents' life satisfaction, following efforts to protect valleys and seas.
On the 25th, Governor Lee visited a mountain development site in Sinhyeon-ri, Opo-eup, Gwangju City, to inspect the situation. This area has been damaged by development, including housing built up to the mountain summit, resulting in destruction of forests and cut slopes. Due to such reckless development, severe traffic congestion occurs in the area, and despite population growth, no additional elementary schools have been built, forcing students to attend classes in containers.
Governor Lee pointed out, "Mountain damage causes various problems, first of all serious disaster risks, and secondly, it harms residents through local traffic congestion. Nowadays, people prefer forest areas as much as station areas, but continuous destruction makes restoration difficult later, lowering overall residents' life satisfaction, which is problematic."
He added, "Landowners, builders, design and civil engineering companies need to make money by damaging the land and raising land prices, so there must be tremendous development pressure on cities and counties. If Gyeonggi Province sets standards, it will be easier for cities and counties to resist such development pressure."
Governor Lee emphasized, "In places like Gwangju with high development pressure, reckless development should be minimized and planned development increased. Gwangju Urban Corporation and Gyeonggi Housing and Urban Corporation should secure sufficient infrastructure within planned development and work to prevent real estate speculation."
Accordingly, the province plans to expand its clean projects such as 'Clean Valleys' and 'Clean Seas' to mountain areas and prepare comprehensive measures to improve mountain area development activities to protect pristine forests.
First, the province will push for the enactment of related ordinances for mountain land use permits, the first of its kind nationwide.
Although the current Mountain Management Act allows for the establishment of permit standards through ordinances, no local governments have enacted such ordinances yet. The province plans to improve indiscriminate mountain development by proactively establishing permit standards through ordinance enactment.
Additionally, the province will revise the Gyeonggi Province Urban and County Basic Plan Establishment Guidelines to add a reckless development management section in sectoral plans of urban and county basic plans. This will require cities and counties to present management directions to prevent reckless development when establishing their basic plans, ensuring mountain reckless development prevention is reviewed from the basic planning stage.
Furthermore, the province will establish landscape plans to improve indiscriminate mountain area development activities and provide management directions.
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