Yongsan-gu Allocates 59.7 Billion KRW in First Supplementary Budget of the Year, Prioritizing Economy and Safety

[Seoul District News] Yongsan-gu Focuses on Local Economic Revitalization, Disaster Prevention, and Resident Safety, Proactive COVID-19 Response & Establishes Basic Plan for (Tentative) Yongsan Cultural Foundation & Increases Contingency Funds by 16 Billion KRW for Emergencies

[Asia Economy Reporter Jong-il Park] Yongsan-gu (District Mayor Hee-young Park) has prepared a supplementary budget proposal for the first additional budget of 2022 amounting to 59.7 billion KRW and submitted it to the Yongsan District Council.

This supplementary budget focuses on ▲ revitalizing the local economy ▲ disaster prevention and strengthening resident safety ▲ proactive response to changes in the COVID-19 situation.

It includes infrastructure maintenance such as improvement of Seongchon Greenbelt facilities, improvement of the school route to Baemoon High School, and repair of aging roads in Itaewon-dong and Bogwang-dong (900 million KRW), support for local economic revitalization (850 million KRW), and other campaign projects of the 8th elected administration. Preliminary works for fulfilling campaign promises are also notable, such as the basic plan establishment service for the (tentative name) Yongsan Cultural Foundation (33 million KRW), organizational diagnosis research service for the Facility Management Corporation (45 million KRW), and tourism revitalization planning service (50 million KRW).

Specifically, 970 million KRW has been allocated to revitalize alleyway markets and the local economy. Projects include support for art interior of local stores in Namyeong-dong food alley (100 million KRW) and additional interest-free loans for small business owners (130 million KRW).

To prevent major disasters and strengthen resident safety, 9.6 billion KRW will be invested.

First, an additional 2.4 billion KRW has been allocated for flood prevention projects for underground houses in low-lying areas and maintenance of aging social infrastructure damaged by heavy rain.

Resident safety has been enhanced through support for electric beds at public elderly welfare facilities (510 million KRW), seismic reinforcement work for Ichon Overpass (2.23 billion KRW), maintenance of street and security lights (450 million KRW), and snow removal measures (290 million KRW).

The seismic reinforcement work for Ichon Overpass is a project with a total budget of 3.5 billion KRW. Last year, seismic reinforcement and detailed safety inspection services were conducted, and due to the need for seismic reinforcement work, 1.27 billion KRW in grants and subsidies were secured, with an additional 2.23 billion KRW from the district budget.

To proactively respond to the threat of COVID-19 resurgence in the second half of this year, an additional 2.7 billion KRW budget has been secured. This includes living support expenses for COVID-19 hospitalized and self-quarantined individuals (1.93 billion KRW) and support for home treatment-related projects (320 million KRW).

Separately, contingency funds and disaster management funds for disaster and emergency purposes have been increased by 16 billion KRW and 2 billion KRW respectively. The contingency funds are intended to appropriately respond to unavoidable unforeseen expenditures, with the district keeping in mind changes in the COVID-19 situation in the second half of the year.

The existing budget for this year was 624.3 billion KRW (general account 598.4 billion KRW, special account 25.9 billion KRW). The supplementary budget proposal will be reviewed and approved through the 276th 1st regular session of the Yongsan District Council, which runs until October 7.

Hee-young Park, Mayor of Yongsan-gu, said, “This supplementary budget was prepared with the local economy and resident safety as the top priorities,” adding, “We will manage it more carefully and meticulously to ensure that the precious taxes of our residents are not wasted.”