Chungnam Secures 172.2 Billion Won Fund for 'Local Extinction Response'

[Asia Economy (Hongseong) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] Chungnam secured a total of 172.2 billion KRW through the Local Extinction Response Fund.

Chungnam Province announced on the 17th that it recently secured 42 billion KRW from the metropolitan support account and 130.2 billion KRW from the basic support account through the Local Extinction Response Fund distributed by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety and the Korea Local Finance Association.

The Ministry of the Interior and Safety and the Association plan to allocate 1 trillion KRW annually for the next 10 years as the Local Extinction Response Fund to each region. The funds will be distributed at a ratio of 75% to basic local governments in population decline and interest areas, and 25% to metropolitan local governments.

There are 89 population decline areas and 18 interest areas nationwide, and the Ministry and the Association recently decided the distribution amounts for the metropolitan support account and basic support account for this year and next year.

This year is the first year of distribution, with 750 billion KRW in funds being supported.

In Chungnam, the province and nine cities and counties including Gongju, Boryeong, Nonsan, Geumsan, Buyeo, Seocheon, Cheongyang, Yesan, and Taean were included as support targets.

The average allocation per city and county in the province is 6.2 billion KRW this year and 8.267 billion KRW next year, exceeding the national average allocation of 5.987 billion KRW and 7.982 billion KRW, respectively.

The basic support account is distributed differentially into five grades based on evaluations by a panel appointed by the Association, which assesses the excellence of projects and the connectivity of plans submitted by local governments nationwide.

The maximum allocation per basic local government over two years is 21 billion KRW, and the minimum allocation is 11.2 billion KRW.

In the province, Geumsan County was selected as one of the top four nationwide and will receive the maximum amount of 21 billion KRW. Additionally, Cheongyang and Buyeo counties were included in grade B and were each allocated 16.8 billion KRW.

Geumsan County plans to introduce the ‘Healing and Therapeutic Workation and Rural Study Hub Project’ utilizing forest resources by establishing facilities on Baekamsan Mountain and other locations, offering healing forest experiences and rural experience village programs for urban residents using the fund.

Cheongyang County will promote the ‘Youth & Housing Vulnerable Group Shelter Space Creation’ and the ‘Cheongyang Kids Development Project’ through the creation of play culture spaces preferred by infants, middle and high school students for the future of Cheongyang County.

Buyeo County plans to introduce the ‘Rural Worker Dormitory Construction’ and ‘Activation Project of Urban-Rural Exchange Platform’ to increase population inflow by leveraging its strengths in the agricultural sector.

A provincial official said, “Since February, the province has formed a working council for cities and counties in population decline areas and supported the advancement of investment plans. The province will continue to operate the working council to overcome the local extinction crisis and secure additional funds in 2024, focusing on policy development and project implementation.”