Changwon Special City Selects 10 Small-Scale Commercial Area Improvement Projects This Year

Held Small Business Support Deliberation Committee, Providing Repair Support for Safety Facilities in Old Commercial Buildings Over 10 Years

Changwon Special City in Gyeongnam Province is implementing the ‘2024 Small-scale Shopping District Environment Improvement Project’ to support the improvement of shared facilities in old small-scale shopping districts.

Earlier, the city received a total of 28 project applications from each district office between March 13 and April 4.

Changwon Special City is holding a Small Business Support Deliberation Committee meeting.

Eligible applicants are small-scale shopping districts that are over 10 years old, have 20 or more retail or service stores, and have formed a merchants' association. However, large-scale stores, traditional markets, and shopping streets are not eligible for support.

After a two-week joint on-site investigation by the city and district offices, 10 locations were finally selected through a review by the screening committee on the 29th.

Selected shopping districts will receive up to 20 million KRW per location to repair shared facilities such as electrical and fire safety equipment, open restrooms, parking lots, and rooftop waterproofing.

Focusing mainly on shopping districts that have not previously received support, the project will first improve safety-related facilities such as fire prevention, fire alarms, and CCTV to enhance the safety of aging shopping districts. It will also actively work on improving facilities for socially vulnerable groups such as the disabled, elderly, and pregnant women.

Jang Geum-yong, the First Deputy Mayor, said, “We hope this support will help strengthen the competitiveness of small business owners by enabling them to operate in clean and safe spaces,” and added, “We will continue to provide support to small-scale shopping districts that fall into blind spots not protected by the Special Act for the Promotion of Traditional Markets and Shopping Streets.”