Ganghwa County Holds Incheon District Heads Council Meeting

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Choi Ki-ho] Ganghwa County held the Incheon District Heads Council Meeting on the 8th at the Ganghwa County Agricultural Technology Center (Future Healing Agriculture Center), where the eight municipal and district heads engaged in discussion about matters to recommend to Incheon City.

The eight municipal and district heads in attendance held a lively debate with Hwang Hyo-jin, Vice Mayor of Global City Affairs, regarding Incheon's childbirth incentive policy "100 Million Plus I-Dream" announced by Incheon City last month.

The Incheon-style childbirth policy involves Incheon City providing a total of 100 million won by the time children born in childbirth families reach age 18, beginning this year in cooperation with 10 municipal and district governments. This adds 28 million won in "Angel Support" (10.4 million won) and "Child Dream Allowance," maternity transportation fees, and other benefits to the currently provided 72 million won in parental benefits, child allowances, childcare costs, and educational expenses, bringing the total to 100 million won. The policy also includes provisions for sunset of existing childbirth incentive policies implemented by each municipal and district government.

Currently, Ganghwa County provides 7.4 million won for the first child, 11.6 million won for the second child, 19.6 million won for the third child, and 28.4 million won for the fourth child and beyond upon birth.

Accordingly, the municipal and district heads expressed regret that Incheon City unilaterally announced the childbirth incentive policy without any prior coordination or consultation with the municipal and district governments regarding budget burden ratios or specific project details.

Additionally, County Chief Yu Cheon-ho made recommendations regarding the allocation of fecal waste treatment capacity to Ganghwa County from the Gajwa Fecal Waste Treatment Facility.

The county had explored facility improvement and expansion due to the current processing capacity of 30 tons per day being exceeded, but expansion has proven difficult due to cultural heritage protection zone restrictions.

While the allocated inflow capacity for the Gajwa Fecal Waste Treatment Facility is 2,600 tons across municipal and district governments, Ganghwa County had been excluded from allocation due to having its own facility.

Accordingly, County Chief Yu actively recommended "processing 30 tons out of the 47 tons of appropriate daily processing capacity for Ganghwa County on its own, with the remaining 17 tons to be received at the Gajwa Fecal Waste Treatment Facility," and demanded active reflection of Ganghwa County's public sewage expansion project in the "2040 Incheon City Sewerage Master Plan."

In response, Incheon City stated, "In cases where processing is impossible due to excessive capacity at Ganghwa County's sanitation treatment facility, cooperation with inflow to the Gajwa Fecal Waste Treatment Facility is possible on Sundays with prior consultation, and we will actively cooperate to ensure that Ganghwa County's public sewage expansion project resulting from large-scale housing project implementation is reflected in the 2040 Sewerage Maintenance Master Plan (to be completed in July 2025)."

County Chief Yu Cheon-ho stated, "To escape designation as a population-declining region, childbirth incentive policies tailored to Ganghwa County's characteristics are necessary, and fecal waste treatment issues must also be resolved as essential matters for improving the residential environment. We hope for Incheon City's understanding and active cooperation."