Yongin City to Invest 59.7 Billion KRW in Sports Projects This Year, Including Construction of Bandabi Gymnasium

Yongin City Hall Exterior View

[Asia Economy (Yongin) = Reporter Lee Young-gyu] Yongin City in Gyeonggi Province will invest 60 billion won this year in sports promotion projects, including building the 'Bandabi Gymnasium' with a swimming pool on the site of Mir Stadium.

Based on the recent research results of the 'Mid- to Long-term Sports Promotion Development Plan (2023?2032),' Yongin City announced on the 3rd that it has set and will focus on four goals: ▲expansion of community sports facilities ▲improvement of facility usage convenience ▲systematic management of public sports facilities ▲activation policies for each sports sector.

To this end, the city secured a budget of 59.7 billion won, including 33.7 billion won in the main budget for this year and 14 billion won carried over from the previous year.

First, to expand community sports facilities, the city will begin a feasibility study for constructing the Bandabi Gymnasium on the Mir Stadium site. The Bandabi Gymnasium will be accessible to both people with disabilities and those without, and will be built with four underground floors and three aboveground floors. It will also feature a 50-meter swimming pool with 10 lanes.

Additionally, the Giheung National Sports Center, linked with the Heungdeok Youth Cultural House, is scheduled for completion in August. Other ongoing projects include the construction of Gwanggyo Sports Center, public sports facilities in Yeokbuk-dong, sports facilities under Donglim Bridge, maintenance of Giheung Respia soccer field, and improvement of the gateball field facilities in Guseong-dong.

Furthermore, starting in May, the city will introduce an integrated reservation system to ensure that community sports facilities are used fairly by everyone. This measure comes in response to repeated cases where some clubs primarily used public sports facilities, causing inconvenience to the general public.

Initially, the integrated reservation system will be pilot-operated for 76 community sports facilities, with plans to gradually expand the target facilities.

Taking advantage of recruiting Woo Sang-hyeok, the world number one high jumper, the city plans to elevate the status of its workplace sports team to a competitive team with four national representatives and two national team reserves.

Mayor Lee Sang-il stated, "To activate citizen sports and improve citizen satisfaction, we will communicate with citizens and secure more resources to upgrade Yongin sports to the next level."