Designation of Secondary Battery Specialized Complex, Corporate Innovation Park, Education Development Special Zone, and Opportunity Development Special Zone
Total Investment of 7.7 Trillion Won, About 20% of All Opportunity Development Zone Investments
Mayor Lee: "Building a New Model for Regional Development through Cooperation with Companies and Demand-Oriented Policies"
Pohang City is emerging as a hub for the secondary battery industry, a national high-tech strategic sector.
Following its designation as a specialized secondary battery industrial complex last year, the city has continued to secure leadership in the industry by being designated this year as a Global Corporate Innovation Park, an Education Advancement Special Zone, and most recently, an Opportunity Development Special Zone.
On the 20th, at the Secondary Battery Integrated Management Center located in the Pohang Blue Valley National Industrial Complex, Pohang City was designated as an Opportunity Development Special Zone during the 9th Local Era Committee meeting attended by President Yoon Suk-yeol.
According to the announcement by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy on the 25th regarding the designation of Opportunity Development Special Zones, a total of 774,000 pyeong?including 359,000 pyeong in the Yeongilman General Industrial Complex, designated as a secondary battery specialized complex, and 415,000 pyeong in the Blue Valley National Industrial Complex?has been designated as an Opportunity Development Special Zone in Pohang. This is the largest area among all basic local governments designated as such.
Notably, in the eight cities and provinces designated as Opportunity Development Special Zones?North Gyeongsang, South Jeolla, North Jeolla, Daegu, Daejeon, South Gyeongsang, Busan, and Jeju (in order of designated area size)?a total investment of 40 trillion won is expected. Of this, Pohang has the largest planned investment at 7.768 trillion won, accounting for about 20% of the total expected investment.
Since Mayor Lee Kangdeok took office, Pohang City has anticipated the growth of the secondary battery industry, attracting the materials company Ecopro and establishing the Ecopro Pohang Campus, while also creating a business-friendly environment by being designated as a Battery Regulation-Free Special Zone.
Subsequently, investments from secondary battery materials companies such as Posco Future M, Energy Materials, and CNGR followed, leading to the achievement of being designated as a specialized secondary battery industrial complex last year.
As a result, out of Pohang's total export value of $11 billion last year, the secondary battery sector accounted for $4.3 billion, representing 38.5%. This marks a successful diversification of the industrial structure, which had previously been centered on the steel industry.
Additionally, Pohang City plans to prevent the outflow of outstanding local talent and support stable corporate growth by fostering customized secondary battery professionals through a high school-university-corporate training pipeline, in connection with the Education Advancement Special Zone.
With this designation as an Opportunity Development Special Zone, companies will be able to reinvest government incentives such as corporate and property tax reductions into securing super-gap technology in the secondary battery industry, helping to strengthen global leadership in the sector.
Mayor Lee Kangdeok stated, "The Pohang-style Opportunity Development Special Zone will establish a new model for regional development through mutual cooperation with companies and the implementation of demand-driven policies," adding, "We will do our utmost to secure additional designations as Opportunity Development Special Zones in preparation for future area expansions."
The Opportunity Development Special Zone is an area designated under the Special Act on Decentralization and Balanced Regional Development, where local governments take the lead and the central government provides support in a bottom-up approach. The zones offer a package of benefits including tax and fiscal support, regulatory exemptions, and improvements to living conditions to attract large-scale corporate investment to regional areas.
In line with the Yoon Suk-yeol administration's national policy, Pohang City swiftly initiated a feasibility study for the Opportunity Development Special Zone in 2022, established a master plan, and, in collaboration with North Gyeongsang Province, actively submitted related proposals to central ministries, responding in a tailored manner to the guidelines for designation.
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