Hwaseong Mayor Jeong Myeong-geun: "We Will Create a City Proud of Living Here"

Creating a 'Good to Live,' 'Good to Work,' and 'Good to Enjoy' City through Transportation Network Expansion, Corporate Investment Attraction, and Leisure Space Development

"We will create a city proud to live in Hwaseong."

Jung Myung-geun, Mayor of Hwaseong City, Gyeonggi Province, presented a new blueprint for Hwaseong City in the era of a population of one million on the 21st. It is a 'city good to live in,' 'city good to work in,' and 'city you want to enjoy.' Through this, he revealed the goal of growing into a city that attracts attention not only domestically but also worldwide.

At a city administration briefing held in the city hall's main conference room on the 21st, Mayor Jung said, "I want to be remembered as a mayor who made the right choice at the turning point of a population of one million," and expressed his ambition to "create a city where citizens are proud to live in Hwaseong."

Jung Myung-geun, Mayor of Hwaseong City, is explaining the Hwaseong City railway network construction plan during a city administration briefing on the 21st.
[Photo by Hwaseong City]

"Making the entire city a 30-minute living zone"

At the briefing, Mayor Jung explained the transportation network plan to establish a '30-minute living zone.' First, he plans to enhance accessibility by ensuring the smooth opening of the metropolitan railway network, including the GTX (Great Train Express) Line A scheduled to open in April next year, as well as the Seohae Line and Sinansan Line.

There is also a plan to significantly expand the metropolitan bus service. Earlier, in August, the city started operating the 'Seoul Donghaeng Bus Seoul Line 01,' connecting Dongtan and Seoul Gangnam Station during rush hours, and from this month, the Gyeonggi-do public bus 6011 running between Dongtan 2 New Town and Pangyo Station was also launched.

In addition, the city plans to steadily promote the construction of expressway networks connecting major city hubs and adjacent areas such as Balan~Namyang, Maesong~Dongtan, and Hwaseong~Osan.

Mayor Jung explained, "We will form a 30-minute living zone throughout Hwaseong City by steadily promoting the expansion of major railways, roads, and buses currently underway."

"Creating future growth engines with semiconductors, future cars, and bio industries... building a wealthy city"

Mayor Jung also presented a vision for a 'wealthy city.' He said, "Hwaseong already ranked first nationwide in Gross Regional Domestic Product (GRDP) with 81.8802 trillion KRW as of 2020," and added, "I will definitely achieve the goal of attracting 20 trillion KRW in investment during my term to build a wealthy city envied worldwide."

In fact, Hwaseong's GRDP is overwhelmingly first among local governments nationwide. It is nearly twice as high as Seongnam City's 46.758 trillion KRW, which ranks second. There are also expectations that it may have exceeded 100 trillion KRW this year. As of last year, the annual export volume was 20.6 billion USD (approximately 26.4565 trillion KRW), ranking first among local governments in Gyeonggi Province. Furthermore, the economic growth rate is 9.5%, second in Gyeonggi Province after Icheon City (14.8%). Hwaseong is a city with the largest economy while maintaining a steep growth trend.

Mayor Jung identified the three major pillars of Hwaseong's economy as semiconductors, future cars, and the pharmaceutical and bio industries. In particular, he expressed his ambition to position Hwaseong as one of the world's top 10 'Technopoles' equipped with four elements: a pleasant residential environment, cutting-edge companies, research institutes, and human resources. Mayor Jung said, "Hwaseong has already established itself as a corporate city with about 27,000 companies and 4,000 research institutes," and explained, "We plan to designate one of the currently developing residential areas as a Technopole pilot city and promote a pilot project that can demonstrate the vision of the Technopole."

Botanic Garden and Hwaseong International Theme Park also progressing smoothly

Mayor Jung plans to grow Hwaseong into a future-oriented city where work and leisure coexist through the successful promotion of key projects such as the Botanic Garden and Hwaseong Theme Park.

The 'Botanic Garden' is one of Mayor Jung's core pledges in his 8th term. It is a project to create a large-scale green space of about 1.8 million square meters, harmonizing parks, waterfronts, and forests around Yeoul Park in Dongtan New Town, Banseoksan, Jaramae Park, Osancheon, and the Korean Wildflower Botanical Garden.

To this end, the city held a design competition for the 'Exhibition Greenhouse,' the anchor facility of the Botanic Garden, and selected the winning design last month. The Exhibition Greenhouse, to be built in Yeoul Park, will be a four-season plant complex cultural space with a total floor area of 8,000 square meters, offering exhibitions of plants from various climate zones as well as programs for experience, education, and community activities.

The 'Hwaseong International Theme Park' is a theme park planned to be built on the western reclaimed land of the eastern district of Songsan Green City. Shinsegae Group was selected as the business operator, and this mega project will invest about 4.5693 trillion KRW on a site of approximately 4.18 million square meters to create a complex resort featuring an amusement park, Starfield, premium outlet, swimming pool, golf course, hotel, and more.

Mayor Jung emphasized, "Achieving a population of one million in Hwaseong City is not the end but just the beginning," and added, "If the various projects the city aims for are successfully completed, Hwaseong will grow beyond just a city with a large population to a self-sufficient city perfectly harmonizing jobs, housing, and rest, and further into a global leading city."

He said, "To this end, we will also drastically reorganize the city administrative system to match the scale of a special city," and added, "We will always discuss and communicate with citizens to find the right direction and operate city administration accordingly."