'Hydrogen City Development Project Briefing for Local Governments Held on the 15th'

[Asia Economy Reporter Minyoung Kim] The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced that it will hold a 'Hydrogen City Development Project Briefing Session' on the 15th at the Government Sejong Complex for local governments nationwide to promote the 2024 new hydrogen city development project.

The hydrogen city development project is a project to establish urban infrastructure such as hydrogen production facilities, transportation facilities (pipelines, tube trailers, etc.), and utilization facilities (fuel cells, etc.) so that hydrogen energy sources can be used in multi-family housing, buildings, transportation facilities, and more.

In 2019, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport selected three locations?Ulsan, Ansan, and Jeonju-Wanju?as the world's first hydrogen pilot cities. Unlike the selection process in 2019, the 2024 new hydrogen city development project will be finalized as a government plan after central government ministries review applications submitted by local governments. It will proceed as a special account project for balanced national development, following the budget schedule of the special account for balanced national development.

Accordingly, local governments will establish project plans and apply for budgets by April. After the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport reviews the appropriateness of the projects, the Ministry of Economy and Finance will review the budget, and the decision on whether to reflect the government plan will be made in August. The plan will be finalized at the end of the year after deliberation by the National Assembly.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport will invest a total of 40 billion KRW (20 billion KRW from the central government and 20 billion KRW from local governments) for this year's new hydrogen city development projects, including the hydrogen pilot cities selected in 2019.

This year, six local governments?Pyeongtaek, Namyangju, Dangjin, Boryeong, Gwangyang, and Pohang?will start new hydrogen city projects and plan to actively develop them from next year.

At this briefing session, the concept of hydrogen cities, details of hydrogen city infrastructure construction projects, support scale and duration, and future project schedules will be introduced.

The hydrogen city development project is generally divided into residential and transportation sectors. The residential sector involves installing urban infrastructure to supply hydrogen energy to multi-family housing (including public offices, etc.), while the transportation sector involves installing urban infrastructure to support hydrogen mobility such as hydrogen cars and hydrogen buses.