Mokpo Bridge Night Lighting Project, 9.6 Billion Won Budget Negotiation Breakdown
Secured National Funds at Risk of Return Next Year, Urgent Need for Cooperative Effort
Mokpo City has encountered a situation where the Mokpo Bridge landscape lighting specialization project has been stalled due to budget issues.
According to the city on the 12th, a preliminary supplementary budget review was conducted on the 10th at the 389th Standing Committee of the Mokpo City Council. The city requested a budget of 4.288 billion KRW in national and provincial funds for the Mokpo Bridge specialization project, but the entire amount was cut and sent to the Budget and Accounts Committee.
The final decision on this matter is scheduled to be made at the Budget and Accounts Committee on the 13th. The city emphasizes its intention to enhance the image of Mokpo as a tourist city and stimulate the local economy by utilizing the nighttime scenery of Mokpo Bridge.
In particular, as the fostering project is coming to an end, this specialization project is considered important. Citizens are concerned that the nighttime lighting of Mokpo Bridge has become overly monotonous and prone to frequent malfunctions, and they desire a transformation with new lighting.
The city plans to invest approximately 9.6 billion KRW to create a new nighttime tourism landmark by expressing images on the exterior of Mokpo Bridge through techniques such as media production.
This project, which has been requesting national funding support since 2018, has been continuously striving to enhance nighttime scenery, and in June, the basic planning service was commissioned with the goal of completion in 2026.
While local government and citizens are cooperating to support this project so that it can become a representative tourist attraction of Mokpo, it is unfortunate that budget issues have become an obstacle.
Mr. Park (63), a resident of Seosan-dong, said, “At night, many tourists visit Daeban-dong to enjoy the sea night view. If the magnificent nighttime scenery of Mokpo Bridge is newly decorated, it will gain fame as a representative attraction along with the marine cable car and can lead Mokpo tourism.” He added, “The Budget and Accounts Committee will also sympathize with the grand cooperation for the development of Mokpo City and Mokpo tourism.”
A city official stated, “By changing the landscape of Mokpo Bridge, we can foster it as a representative nighttime product of the tourist city Mokpo. Now is a golden opportunity to improve the aging landscape lighting with national funds. We will do our best to convey the importance and urgency of the project to the Budget and Accounts Committee so that the project can proceed without any setbacks.”
The city hopes that the budget decision will be made correctly to have a positive impact on tourism and regional development.
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