Gwangju City Achieves Visible Results in '5 Major New Vitality Belts'

‘Seochang Emotional Observatory’ Opening in the First Half of Next Year
Gwangju Station Bitgoeul Startup Station to be Completed in December

Koh Kwang-wan, Deputy Mayor of Gwangju City, attended and presided over the "2024 Five New Vitality Belt Promotion Status Report Meeting" held on the morning of the 29th at the city hall seminar room. Photo by Gwangju City

Gwangju City announced on the 30th that it held a report meeting on the 29th at the city hall seminar room to share the 2024 progress of the ‘5 Major New Vitality Belts,’ a key project of the 8th local government administration.

Presided over by Deputy Mayor Ko Gwang-wan, the meeting reviewed the progress of the 5 Major New Vitality Belts and discussed effective directions for project implementation next year.

The ‘5 Major New Vitality Belts’ are projects aimed at injecting fun and vitality into key regional hubs, including the Yeongsan River·Hwangryong River Exciting Belt, Gwangjucheon Ecological Healing Belt, Gwangju Songjeong Station Vitality Belt, Gwangju Station Startup Belt, and Hyochon Station Digital Content Belt.

The Yeongsan River·Hwangryong River Exciting Belt has been undergoing formal administrative procedures since last October, when the ‘Y-Project Basic Concept Plan’ was established, including the development of basic plans and commencement of design services for six leading projects. In the first half of next year, the ‘Seochang Emotional Observatory,’ where visitors can observe and experience the natural ecosystem along the Yeongsan River at the old Seochang port area, will be unveiled.

The Gwangjucheon Ecological Healing Belt created a pleasant walking trail under the cantilever from Dumulmeori to Balsan Bridge in February. Additionally, a feasibility study to secure water volume and improve water quality in Seobangcheon adjacent to the Jeonbang and Ilsin Textile sites, and to develop a healing and leisure waterfront space near Kia Champions Field, will be completed within this year. After concretizing the project, full-scale implementation will begin next year.

The Gwangju Songjeong Station Vitality Belt established the UNESCO Media Art Creative Belt project ‘Gateway of Light’ at Gwangju Songjeong Station in September. The expansion construction to double the station’s size is currently in the bidding process for contractor selection and is planned to be actively pursued next year.

The Gwangju Station Startup Belt’s core startup support facility, ‘Bitgoeul Startup Station,’ will be completed in December and is scheduled to open in March next year. The ‘Complex Hub Center,’ an R&D convergence startup support facility, also broke ground in July, steadily advancing the largest ‘Gwangju Station Startup Valley’ in the Honam region.

The Hyochon Station Digital Content Belt graduated its first class of 132 trainees through the operation of the Gwangju Real Content Cube (GCC) Academy for cultural content workforce training, with 19 of them successfully employed.

Deputy Mayor Ko Gwang-wan stated, “Despite difficult conditions this year, the 5 Major New Vitality Belts project achieved meaningful results through close interdepartmental cooperation. Next year, we will accelerate the project and do our best to make it a foothold that revitalizes the region by leveraging the characteristics of each hub.”