Boseong-gun Promotes Local Economic Revitalization Through Active Fiscal Management in the First Half of the Year

[Boseong=Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Park Cheon-seok] Boseong-gun, Jeollanam-do announced a financial management plan to promote three major SOC projects worth 1 trillion won and five Boseong-type New Deal projects.

According to Boseong-gun on the 20th, the county set the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic as the top priority in this financial management plan and presented specific implementation measures to successfully achieve various goals in areas such as job creation for residents, social safety net establishment, population policy reinforcement, and New Deal infrastructure construction.

▲ COVID-19 Recovery as Top Priority

The direction of fiscal expenditure in 2021 focuses on budget execution that can lead COVID-19 quarantine and economic recovery. The county plans to expand the Boseong 600 project, which was successfully promoted last year with a budget of 6 billion won, to revitalize the local economy.

About 50 billion won worth of Boseong Sarang Gift Certificates, a local currency, will also be issued to support neighborhood markets and small business owners. A budget of 2 billion won will be spent on free flu vaccinations for all residents and free mask distribution to prevent the spread of COVID-19, proactively ensuring residents' safety.

▲ Systematic Management of Budget Securing and Execution

Despite the difficult conditions caused by COVID-19 last year, Boseong-gun secured the largest-ever local allocation tax of 232.4 billion won for 2021. Accordingly, the county plans to focus all administrative efforts on supporting economic recovery through rapid execution in the first half of the year in line with the government's budget and fund operation plans.

The county will accelerate the promotion of the Boseong-type New Deal by establishing plans to respond to government public contest projects in 2021 and by attracting major contest projects and discovering new projects by department. Monthly resource securing plans will also be established and promoted for managing general allocation tax statistics and discovering general national subsidy projects.

Great care will be taken in budget execution as well. According to the Ministry of the Interior and Safety’s rapid local finance execution plan, Boseong-gun will check the execution status quarterly, monthly, and weekly to encourage execution, and for large-scale investment projects, advance payments will be made to revitalize the local economy. Promotion of private consumption through prepayment and pre-purchase will also be conducted simultaneously.

To ensure sound financial management, the resident participation budget system will be expanded so that diverse voices of residents can be reflected from the budget formulation process, and the contract review system will be actively utilized to prevent budget waste.

▲ Enhancing Residents’ Quality of Life through Large-Scale Projects Responsible for the Next Generation

Boseong-gun is preparing for the era of high-speed rail and aims to welcome an era of 10 million tourists through not only wide-area and marine SOC but also tourism New Deal projects to become the largest marine leisure tourism destination in the Namhae region.

Through projects such as the Yulpo Marine Leisure Tourism Hub Project, Jeollanam-do Teachers’ Education and Cultural Facilities, the integrated tourism theme road construction project between Beolgyo and Jangdo, and the Yeoja Bay Beolgyo Mudflat Marine Theme Park, the county plans to build a marine tourism belt extending from Hoecheon-myeon to Beolgyo and realize the Boseong-type Blue Economy.

Also, projects that were previously pursued individually, such as the Boseong Tea Garden creation, Yeongcheon Tea Industry Revitalization Project, and Korean Tea Culture Park Healing Space creation, will be combined into one project to develop a large-scale theme park connecting Botjae, the Korean Tea Museum, Dahyang Art Valley, and Myeongnyang Tea Garden, promoting major tourism hubs by region.

Through the Fishing Village New Deal 300, local fishing port Geumnung Port development project, Deukryang Bay clean fishing ground regeneration project, and comprehensive island development projects, the county will dramatically improve the living conditions of fishing villages and simultaneously enhance tourism infrastructure and fishermen’s living environments.

The Boseong-gun residents’ 10-year wish and the largest single project ever, the Boseong-eup city gas supply project (74 billion won), will be actively promoted, making 2021 the inaugural year of energy welfare projects.

County Governor Kim Cheol-woo said, “To build a Boseong-gun where everyone wants to live, we will continue to move forward steadily like the unwavering steps of an ox this year as well,” and added, “We will boldly and efficiently manage local finances to build a county where residents can be safe through job creation, regional economic recovery, and COVID-19 quarantine.”