Capital Region Authorities to Jointly Address Air Quality and Other Regional Issues

The heads of three metropolitan local governments in the capital region—Seoul, Incheon, and Gyeonggi Province—have agreed to cooperate mutually on three major regional issues including air quality, transportation, and water quality, and will announce a joint agreement on these matters on the 8th.

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon, Gyeonggi Governor Kim Moon-soo, and Incheon Mayor An Sang-soo, the heads of the three capital region metropolitan governments, will meet at Plaza Hotel in Seoul on the 8th to adopt a 'Joint Agreement Statement of Seoul, Incheon, and Gyeonggi on Major Capital Region Issues,' according to officials from the three cities and provinces announced on the 6th.

According to a 'draft agreement' prepared through preliminary consultations among officials from the three cities and provinces, the three will first actively promote a cap-and-trade system for business emissions in the air quality sector, and will particularly make joint efforts to advance the low-emission diesel vehicle project ahead of 2014, the target year of the 'Basic Plan for Improving Capital Region Air Environment.'

The agreement also contains provisions for old and large diesel vehicles with high pollutant emissions to be required to install particulate filters or replace them with compressed natural gas (CNG) vehicles, and to cooperate in the early establishment of mandatory low-emission measures.

In particular, the three metropolitan local governments are reported to have reached consensus through the agreement to carefully review 'driving restrictions' in the capital region for diesel vehicles without installed emission reduction devices, should sufficient consensus be formed on the issue of air quality improvement.

This is the first time that capital region metropolitan governments have entered into a 'policy accord' on matters of mutual concern, so the results of subsequent related policy implementation are drawing attention.

The agreement also contains provisions to expand traffic policies including strengthened traffic demand management, construction of transfer systems, and activation of public transportation use throughout the capital region to improve air quality through reduction of private vehicle use.

The three cities and provinces have also agreed to share measurement and analysis data from each city and province's air pollution monitoring network and to make joint efforts to secure national support for the installation and improvement costs of air pollution prevention facilities at business sites.

In the transportation sector, they will form sector-specific consultation bodies and cooperate in the early implementation of an integrated public transportation transfer discount system for the capital region.

Additionally, the three cities and provinces will make joint efforts to protect the Han River, the sole water source for capital region residents, and to secure necessary funding for achieving water quality targets ahead of schedule, while deciding to jointly operate the secretariat of the Han River Basin Management Committee for efficient operation and management of the Han River Basin Management Fund established through water use charges and others.

A Seoul city official stated, "This accord will serve as an opportunity to maximize the effect of policy coordination on major regional issues beyond administrative boundaries," and added, "However, connecting this to the concept of a greater Seoul is an overinterpretation."