O Tae-wan Uiryeong-gun Mayor Achieves 100 Billion Won Public Project Pledge

O Tae-wan, Governor of Uiryeong County, Gyeongnam.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Wook] Uiryeong-gun, Gyeongnam, has achieved an unprecedented 100 billion won public contest project that could have easily become the subject of 'jealousy' from surrounding military areas.

Uiryeong-gun announced on the 21st that it set an unprecedented record of achieving over 100 billion won in public contest projects in 2022. This year, the county was selected for 66 projects with a total project cost of 134.8 billion won (87.4 billion won from national and provincial funds), achieving the highest performance since its establishment.

The county had been selected for public contest projects worth an average of 20 to 30 billion won annually from various government ministries and Gyeongsangnam-do, but with the inauguration of County Governor Oh Tae-wan last year, it achieved a result of securing 39 projects worth 47.7 billion won in 2021. This year, with the achievement of 134.8 billion won in public contest projects, about three times last year's amount, the local community is greatly rejoicing.

In particular, Governor Oh tasted the joy of keeping his promise to the residents by announcing the four major pledges called 'Saphilgwijung' in this year's by-election, including the pledge to select '100 billion won in government public contest projects' corresponding to 'Jeong' (justice/fairness).

This achievement of Uiryeong-gun is interpreted as the result of meticulously analyzing national tasks following the launch of the new government and key provincial issues, and responding thoroughly and systematically through selection and concentration from the preparation stage of the public contest projects to achieve the goal of securing 100 billion won in public contest projects.

The county has been thoroughly managing by preparing monthly public contest project management cards for each department, and made all possible arrangements such as collecting opinions from residents of the project sites and consulting experts, preparing thoroughly from the preliminary planning stage of the public contest application.

The representative public contest projects selected by Uiryeong-gun this year include ▲Local Extinction Response Fund (22.1 billion won) ▲Support Project for Expansion of Living Sports Facilities (7.5 billion won) ▲Basic Living Base Creation Project (4 billion won) ▲Industrial Complex Environmental Improvement Project (9.8 billion won) ▲Undergrounding of Power Lines Project (3.5 billion won) ▲New Renewable Energy Convergence Support Project (1.6 billion won) ▲Disaster Prevention Project (1.4 billion won), among others.

In particular, the largest single project, ▲Rural Space Maintenance Project (31.1 billion won), is a key project of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs with national and provincial support amounting to 20.2 billion won, recognized as the result of efforts made by going back and forth to central government ministries to secure national funds.

Even in the remaining period of this year, the county is pouring its last efforts to select ongoing public contest projects such as ▲Region-tailored Integrated River Project (83 billion won) and ▲Support Project for Revitalization of Traditional Markets and Shopping Districts (1 billion won).

Governor Oh said, “With the achievement of 100 billion won in public contest projects, a new success story of Uiryeong-gun is being written,” and added, “All these achievements are thanks to the support of the residents and the dedication of public officials. We will strategically discover projects necessary for regional development and bring good gifts again next year.”