East-West Crossing Between Gwangju and Daegu... Connecting Lives of 18 Million Yeonghonam Residents Across 10 Local Governments
Kang Gijeong and Hong Junpyo "Will Revitalize Regional Economy and Inject Vitality into Regional Development"
The special bill for the construction of the Dalbit Railroad passed the National Assembly plenary session on the 25th through bipartisan agreement. The symbolic project of East-West harmony will ring the sound of miracles after 30 years.
Gwangju Metropolitan City expects that with the passage of the Dalbit Railroad Special Act in the National Assembly plenary session, personal and material exchanges will be promoted within a half-day living zone of one hour between Gwangju and Daegu, fostering harmony and mutual development between Yeongnam and Honam regions.
The Dalbit Railroad has been a 30-year-long aspiration of the people in the Yeongnam and Honam regions. It was included in the 1999 National Core Transportation Network Plan after numerous studies, discussions, and public opinion gathering. Later, it was adopted as a pledge for Yeongnam-Honam cooperation in the 2017 19th presidential election and was reflected in the 4th National Railroad Network Construction Plan in 2021.
In particular, Mayor Kang Gi-jung of Gwangju and Mayor Hong Joon-pyo of Daegu met at Gwangju City Hall on November 25, 2022, and signed an agreement to strengthen the Dalbit Alliance, including the early commencement of the Dalbit High-Speed Railroad, accelerating progress.
Subsequently, on April 17 last year, Mayor Kang met Mayor Hong at the Jirisan Rest Area in Namwon, Jeonbuk, and signed a joint memorandum of understanding to promote a special law exempting the preliminary feasibility study for the Dalbit High-Speed Railroad. This agreement led the six cities and provinces along the Dalbit High-Speed Railroad route?Gwangju, Jeonnam, Jeonbuk, Gyeongnam, Gyeongbuk, and Daegu?and the political circles to cooperate in promoting the enactment of a special law for the early construction of the Dalbit High-Speed Railroad.
Following this, in August last year, a record 261 members of the National Assembly proposed the ‘Dalbit Railroad Special Act,’ which passed the National Assembly plenary session on this day.
The ‘Dalbit Railroad’ is an east-west transversal railroad connecting Gwangju and Daegu, with a total length of 198.8 km. It starts from Gwangju Songjeong Station and passes through Gwangju Station, Jeonnam (Damyang), Jeonbuk (Sunchang, Namwon, Jangsu), Gyeongnam (Hamyang, Geochang, Hapcheon), Gyeongbuk (Goryeong), and ends at West Daegu Station. The railroad passes through six cities and provinces and 10 counties and districts. The related population of Yeongnam and Honam regions reaches 18 million.
According to research, the Dalbit Railroad construction project is expected to generate about 7.3 trillion KRW in production inducement effects, 2.3 trillion KRW in added value inducement effects, and create approximately 38,000 jobs.
Gwangju City anticipates that personal and material exchanges will be promoted within a half-day living zone of one hour between Gwangju and Daegu, fostering harmony and mutual development between Yeongnam and Honam regions. This has immense national benefits that are difficult to quantify monetarily, such as balanced regional development, overcoming the crisis of local extinction, and enhancing national competitiveness. In particular, the Dalbit Railroad will strengthen connectivity between regional hubs and establish a foundation for the Yeongnam-Honam industrial belt, building a new southern metropolitan economic zone.
The main contents of the ‘Dalbit Railroad Special Act’ include ▲regulations necessary for the rapid construction of the railroad connecting Gwangju and Daegu ▲special provisions exempting the preliminary feasibility study to ensure the swift and smooth promotion of the Dalbit Railroad construction project ▲designation of station area development zones and promotion of station area development projects for systematic development of the Dalbit Railroad station areas.
On this day, Mayor Kang Gi-jung of Gwangju and Mayor Hong Joon-pyo of Daegu issued a joint welcome statement, saying, “We signed the Dalbit Alliance strengthening agreement in November 2022, just four months after the start of the 8th local government administration,” and “We pledged to form a balanced development alliance and open the skies, railways, and waterways.”
They continued, “Five months later, in April last year, we opened the first phase of the Dalbit Alliance, the air route, achieving the simultaneous passage of the Airport Special Act for Daegu and Gwangju,” and “We immediately agreed to pass the special law exempting the preliminary feasibility study for the Dalbit Railroad and promoted it, and within just nine months, Daegu and Gwangju joined forces to open the second phase of the Dalbit Alliance, the railway.”
Furthermore, “As a result, Gwangju and Daegu have become neighbors who can travel within one hour,” and “Localities have been connected. It is an evaluation that the daily lives of 10 local governments, including Gwangju and Daegu, which were virtually disconnected, and 18 million residents have been connected.”
They also emphasized, “This Dalbit Railroad Act will revitalize the local economy and inject vitality into regional development,” and “It will surely be a new opportunity to prevent the national disease of concentration in the metropolitan area and overcome local extinction.”
They added, “Going forward, Gwangju and Daegu will open the path of industrial alliance to jointly open the next stage of the Dalbit Alliance, the path of future industries,” and “I am overwhelmed with excitement thinking about riding the train from Gwangju to Daegu and running from the East Sea to the West Sea by 2030.”
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