Guro-gu, Oryu Beodeul Market Fosters 'Local Brand Commercial Area'

[Seoul District News] Guro-gu to Support Up to 3 Billion KRW Over 3 Years for Local Brand Building, Facility Improvement, Marketing, and Merchant Capacity Enhancement... Gwanak-gu Conducts Comprehensive Cleanup of Unclaimed Local Taxes... Geumcheon-gu Prepares for Summer with Gutter and Sewer Dredging

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jong-il] Guro-gu (Mayor Lee Sung) announced on the 6th that it has been selected for Seoul's core project, the ‘Local Brand Commercial District Development Project,’ aimed at overcoming the crisis faced by small business owners due to the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic.

The ‘Local Brand Commercial District Development Project’ is a comprehensive support initiative that fosters local commercial districts with potential by building foundations, branding, and strengthening self-sustainability, utilizing local content such as regional characteristics and cultural resources.

The selected area is the ‘Oryu Beodeul Market Commercial District.’

The Oryu Beodeul commercial district is located near Oryu-dong Station, offering good accessibility, and is situated in a residential area featuring retro and diverse businesses. It is also adjacent to cultural facilities such as Oryu-dong Station Cultural Park and Oryu Cultural Center.

With this selection, up to 3 billion KRW will be supported over three years, and the project will be implemented in three phases. The first phase, the foundational project, will be carried out in collaboration with the Credit Guarantee Foundation and Guro-gu, while the second and third phases will be led by Guro-gu and the commercial district development organization.

The name Oryu-dong originates from ‘Oryugol,’ a place where paulownia and willow trees were dense, providing travelers a resting spot. Leveraging this characteristic, various contents using paulownia and willow trees will be created, and the ‘Oryu-dong Marketer’ will be branded to establish a resting space for weary people and develop the commercial district into a place for traveling through memories.

Starting this month, the district will promote support projects including nurturing local entrepreneurs, developing brand stories, facility improvements, event hosting, and establishing commercial district governance.

A Guro-gu official stated, “We hope this project will revitalize the alley commercial districts and enhance the competitiveness of small business owners,” adding, “We will do our best to revitalize the local economy.”

Gwanak-gu is operating a comprehensive local tax refund unclaimed money cleanup period until May 31 to actively return local tax refunds that taxpayers have not claimed.

Local tax refunds occur due to reasons such as vehicle transfer or scrapping, tax amount changes from national tax adjustments of local income tax, and double payments among the local government collection funds paid by taxpayers.

When a refund arises, a refund notice is sent to the taxpayer and notified via text message, but in cases of small amounts, taxpayers may not pay attention or misunderstand it as voice phishing, resulting in unclaimed refunds.

Accordingly, the district is actively promoting the recovery of unclaimed refunds, striving to enable residents who receive refund notices to reclaim their refunds through various methods.

Methods include KakaoTalk channel local tax refund, Seoul tax payment system (ETAX), WETAX, ARS, pre-registration of refund accounts, and telephone applications.

Additionally, the refund notice guides donations of local tax unclaimed refunds to spread a culture of sharing throughout the community.

Those agreeing to donate refunds can apply by submitting a donation application via internet, fax, mail, or text message, and donations are eligible for year-end tax deduction benefits.

For more detailed information regarding local tax refunds, contact the district’s local income tax department.

Geumcheon-gu is undertaking cleaning of rainwater inlets and sewer dredging to prevent flood damage and eliminate sources of urban odor in preparation for the upcoming summer season.

Sewer dredging refers to excavating the sewage facilities down to the bottom to secure water flow paths.

Geumcheon-gu has designated four flood-prone areas?Gasan Digital Complex Station, Doksan-dong Village Park, Siheung Intersection, and Seoksu Station area?as priority management zones for rainfall and will prioritize dredging there.

By November, approximately 15,000 rainwater inlets and 53 km of sewer pipes and culverts (rectangular-shaped sewers) will be dredged, with a goal to complete 70% of the work in the first half of the year to prepare for summer floods.

In particular, many rainwater inlets are clogged with cigarette butts, trash, and fallen leaves, so a comprehensive dredging operation will be conducted to ensure smooth water flow during rain, along with cleaning sewer pipes to proactively eliminate odor sources.

Jin Hak-seong, head of the Water Management Division, said, “We will strive to prevent flood damage in summer and minimize urban odor through sewer dredging.”