[Asia Economy Sejong=Reporter Dongwoo Lee] The government will provide support worth 120 billion KRW over two years to Pohang City, which suffered damage from Typhoon Hin Nam No last year.
The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced on the 8th that it will support Pohang City, designated as an industrial crisis preemptive response area due to typhoon damage, with seven projects totaling 123.1 billion KRW.
Specifically, an additional budget of 108.9 billion KRW in emergency management stabilization funds has been allocated to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) for facility restoration. Support will be provided through low-interest loans, and for mid-sized companies, 3.7 billion KRW in special guarantees will be promoted through contributions to the Korea Credit Guarantee Fund.
To ensure timely response to emergency disaster situations such as heavy rain and typhoons, disaster prevention facilities such as retaining walls and flood barriers (Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy) and rainwater pumping stations (Ministry of Environment) will be installed in the Pohang Steel Industrial Complex. Additionally, support will be provided to establish an integrated control center (Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy) within the industrial complex to build a disaster early detection and prevention system.
To secure competitiveness in the steel industry, support will be given for manufacturing-specialized and field-centered workforce training targeting SMEs and mid-sized companies within the Pohang Steel Industrial Complex. Plans also include building a shared logistics center and a smart logistics platform for real-time logistics status monitoring that SMEs and mid-sized companies can utilize.
Subsidy support will also be strengthened following the designation as an industrial crisis preemptive response area.
First, the local investment promotion subsidy rate, which subsidizes a certain amount of investment in company location and facility investment, will be adjusted from this year to the same level as the special industrial crisis response areas. Accordingly, in Pohang City, the subsidy rate for SMEs will increase from 9% to 24% for facilities and from 30% to 50% for location. For mid-sized companies, the rates will increase from 7% to 19% for facilities and from 10% to 25% for location.
Support will be provided for research and development (R&D) and commercialization fields, including the establishment and advancement of smart factories, overseas expansion, and commercialization. In addition, according to financial support measures for typhoon Hin Nam No damage, financial loans for disaster-affected companies will be supported to extend maturity up to one year or defer repayment as currently practiced.
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