Pocheon City in Gyeonggi Province (Mayor Baek Younghyeon) has been selected for the "2025 Additional Rural Space Maintenance Project" promoted by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, securing a budget of 12.9 billion won for space maintenance projects to be carried out in the Naechon-myeon area until 2029.
Pocheon City, Naechon-myeon Rural Space Maintenance Project Comprehensive Plan Map. Provided by Pocheon City
For this round of project selection, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs relaxed its support criteria and prioritized assistance for disaster-affected areas to facilitate the swift recovery of regions hit by wildfires, floods, and other disasters.
Pocheon City, which suffered significant damage from heavy rainfall in July and was subsequently designated as a special disaster area, planned the rural space maintenance project with a focus on Naechon-myeon, the area most severely affected.
The project will focus on restoring and revitalizing public sports facilities, such as the gateball field in Naeri, Naechon-myeon, where land was lost and some functions were paralyzed due to the flooding of the Wangsucheon Stream. It will also address the maintenance and regeneration of sites such as the municipal daycare center and the Naechon-myeon Community Center, both of which have suffered from frequent flooding.
In addition, in the Sinpal-ri area of Naechon-myeon, the city plans to demolish abandoned livestock facilities and improve the environment to enhance the village landscape and create a more pleasant living space.
Meanwhile, in March 2024, Pocheon City promptly began formulating a basic plan for rural space restructuring and regeneration in accordance with the "Act on Support for Rural Space Restructuring and Regeneration," which was enacted that month.
Through these efforts, the city has moved away from its previous reliance on the Ministry of the Interior and Safety’s special regional development projects for border areas and established a foundation to secure new funding from the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.
Mayor Baek Younghyeon stated, "Pocheon is an urban-rural complex city where rural and urban areas coexist. With the selection of this project, the living environment and infrastructure in rural areas will be further improved. Going forward, we will continue to identify and promote additional projects to enhance living conditions in rural areas and strengthen the competitiveness of the agricultural and livestock industries."
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