Gyeonggi Province Designates Three New National Fisheries Ports Including Jeonggok and Jebu Ports in Hwaseong, Investing 239 Billion Won

[Suwon Ilbo = Reporter Kim Gapdong] Gyeonggi Province announced on the 8th that approximately 239 billion won in national fisheries port development project funds will be invested as Hwaseong's Jeonggok Port and Jebu Port, Ansan's Bangnamerri Port, and Gimpo's Daemyeong Port have been newly designated as national fisheries ports.

Gyeonggyeong Province had only one national fisheries port—Hwaseong's Gungpyeong Port—and, with no cases of national fisheries port designation for 16 years, the province set national fisheries ports as a core innovation pledge of the eighth popularly elected provincial administration and has worked continuously toward their development.

The province, together with Hwaseong City, Ansan City, and Gimpo City, formulated customized national fisheries port development strategies reflecting regional characteristics and applied for the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries' call for new national fisheries port designations in July. The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries announced on the 8th that all three ports—Hwaseong's Jeonggok Port and Jebu Port, Ansan's Bangnamerri Port, and Gimpo's Daemyeong Port—were selected.

Following the selection through the call for new national fisheries port designations, approximately 239 billion won in national fisheries port development project funds will be invested sequentially in Hwaseong's Jeonggok Port and Jebu Port, Ansan's Bangnamerri Port, and Gimpo's Daemyeong Port.

The major development directions are △improving fisheries port functions through breakwater construction and facility expansion △strengthening West Sea maritime traffic hub functions △reinforcing marine tourism and cultural functions to establish fishing villages as economic hubs.

Meanwhile, the province is also undertaking redevelopment and development projects for two local fisheries ports, including Ansan's Tando Port. In particular, Ansan's Tando Port aims for completion by the end of this year and has invested a total of 22.6 billion won since 2014 in land reclamation of 81,000 square meters. The province is planning to construct large-scale marine leisure and tourism infrastructure including yacht land-based mooring facilities, a marine leisure R&D center, and marine healing facilities for marine tourism infrastructure development.

Kong Jeongsik, director of the Provincial Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Life Sciences Bureau, said, "Through this designation, we will secure economic revitalization of fishing villages and new growth drivers for fishing villages beyond fisheries operations and marine leisure and tourism functions. Going forward, we will actively pursue projects that infuse vitality into fishing villages through fisheries port development tailored to regional characteristics amid the crisis of potential rural depopulation," he added.