New Gyeonggi Policy Contest 2021 Draws 29 Municipalities and Counties...Preliminary Review Underway

[Suwon Ilbo=Park No-hun Reporter] Twenty-nine municipalities and counties in Gyeonggi Province have participated in this year's "New Gyeonggi Policy Contest 2021, Gyeonggi FIRST" project, which offers 60 billion won in special adjustment grants.

According to Gyeonggi Province on the 7th, following the closure of policy contest applications on the 26th of last month, a total of 29 submissions were received: 20 large-scale projects offering support ranging from a maximum of 10 billion won to 6 billion won, and 9 general-scale projects offering support ranging from a maximum of 6 billion won to 3 billion won.

The New Gyeonggi Policy Contest is a public recruitment project implemented to concentrate budgets on policy projects related to the realization of the three core provincial values of fairness, peace, and welfare among urgent local issues that municipalities and counties must address.

Starting this month, the province plans to organize an external expert review panel to ensure fairness in evaluation and selection, and will conduct preliminary reviews on the 29th and 30th of this month across five areas including appropriateness of project site location and project viability and sustainability to select 11 municipal and county policy projects to advance to final review from the total of 29 projects.

In addition, when selecting projects, bonus points will be awarded to projects that can be immediately implemented in the current year by gathering public opinions through residents' hearings and other means or implementing preliminary administrative procedures such as investment review and securing design costs.

Once the 11 municipal and county policy projects advancing to the finals are determined through this preliminary review, final rankings will be decided in the final review in May through expert review and online public opinion surveys, with 30 billion won for 4 large-scale projects and 30 billion won for 7 general-scale projects in special adjustment grants.

A provincial official said, "The policy contest project provides municipalities and counties with an opportunity to implement large-scale long-cherished projects without financial burden through selective concentration on special adjustment grants," adding "We will strengthen the policy development capacity of municipalities and counties and ensure major regional projects are smoothly implemented."

Meanwhile, last year Paju City received the grand prize in the large-scale project category with the "Gyeonggi Waterfront Ecological Park Regeneration Project: Where People and Nature Connect Through Art," and Anyang City received the grand prize in the general-scale category with the "Gyeonggi Night Goblin Safety Shuttle City Project," each receiving 10 billion won and 6 billion won in special adjustment grants respectively.