Gyeonggi Province to Expand Organization Under Fourth Democratic Local Elected Government

The Gyeonggi Province organization under the fourth democratic local elected government, to be led by Gyeonggi Governor-elect Kim Mun-su, is expected to expand from its current size.

In particular, to establish a metropolitan transportation network connecting Seoul, Gyeonggi Province, and Incheon, there are concentrated reviews of plans to expand the transportation department, currently organized at the level of 1 division and 3 sections, to a scale equivalent to Seoul's 1 office, 1 bureau, and 2 departments structure.

Additionally, active reviews are reportedly underway on establishing a dedicated organization to address measures for the Paldang water supply source protection zone.

An official from the transition committee disclosed on the 8th that such organizational expansion and restructuring issues were discussed during a briefing on duties from the provincial Planning and Management Office.

Earlier, Governor-elect Kim announced in his local election platform that he would form a "Capital Area Regulation Overhaul Task Force" directly under the Gyeonggi governor to investigate various damages and complaints caused by capital area regulations and petition the government accordingly.

Governor-elect Kim also announced plans to establish a "Gyeonggi Province New Town Project Support Team" to address economic imbalances between northern and southern regions of Gyeonggi Province, preparing measures for revitalizing old downtown areas and enhancing coordination functions with central government ministries.

In addition, Governor-elect Kim plans to operate a public-private joint dedicated organization to handle the entire process from identifying foreign direct investment through implementation and ongoing management and support to promote the attraction of foreign advanced enterprises.

To activate and integrate civil servants' volunteer activities, a new "Team Making Neighbors Proud of Gyeonggi Province," composed of two external volunteer experts and practitioners from each division handling volunteer work, is expected to be established.

An "Apartment Quality Inspection Team" will also be newly created to directly inspect model house materials and other documents to check quality differences between model houses and lease apartments.

Additionally, Gyeonggi Province's consumer food and sanitation monitors are under review for expansion into a "School Meal Safety Monitoring Unit," and a plan is being examined to divide 1,852 schools in Gyeonggi Province providing school meals into four regions to be monitored by "Safe Meal 119 Teams."

Meanwhile, some are raising concerns that if new organizations are established or existing organizations are expanded as planned by Governor-elect Kim, this could result in increased budgets and organizational bloat.

In response, Governor-elect Kim's side stated, "As the governing philosophy and direction of provincial administration are changing, some degree of organizational expansion and restructuring is inevitable," while adding, "However, we will utilize existing organizations where possible or invest minimum budgets to eliminate budgetary waste."