Sang-il Lee, President of the National Large Cities Association, "Flammable Soundproof Tunnel Replacement Costs Should Be Supported by National Road Funds"

Lee Sang-il, Chairman of the National Council of Large Cities Mayors (Mayor of Yongin), is holding a video meeting on the 28th with heads of large city organizations affiliated with the council.

Lee Sang-il, the chairman of the 8th term National Association of Large City Mayors and mayor of Yongin, requested national and provincial government funding support for the replacement costs of flammable material tunnel soundproofing facilities.

On the 28th, Chairman Lee presided over a meeting held in a non-face-to-face format at the Yongin City Hall video conference room, attended by heads of 12 local governments out of 17 cities belonging to the National Association of Large City Mayors, where they deliberated on 10 agenda items aimed at realizing autonomy and decentralization in large cities.

The association particularly expressed the opinion that replacing the soundproofing facilities is difficult to proceed with using only local government budgets and that national and provincial government funding support is necessary.

Established in April 2003, the National Association of Large City Mayors is composed of heads of basic local governments nationwide with populations over 500,000, jointly researching administrative affairs and mutually exchanging information and technology.

The chairman of the association stated, "Autonomy and decentralization mean expanding autonomy so that efficient administration can be implemented by reflecting the conditions and characteristics of each region to the fullest," adding, "Based on the proposals made at the meeting, we will continue to discuss current issues and share opinions for the development of local autonomy."

The agenda items handled at this regular meeting included ▲delegation of authority to large cities to lift restrictions on small-scale development zones (under 300,000㎡) ▲improvement of business regulations for small merchants within educational environment protection zones ▲transfer of authority to designate historical and cultural environment preservation areas for city and provincial designated cultural assets ▲request for national and provincial government funding support related to soundproofing facility replacement ▲and improvement of the disaster relief fund distribution system.