Opportunity and Growth… Hwaseong City on the Rise
Mayor Chae stated, "Along with promoting the designation of an innovative education district, we will focus the city's administrative capacity on providing an educational environment better than Gangnam," and added, "We will do our best to create a welfare-oriented Hwaseong where all citizens are happy."
● Focusing administrative capacity on education while strengthening municipal financial soundness
Hwaseong City is concentrating all administrative capacity on education and actively pursuing designation as an innovative education district currently being promoted by the Provincial Office of Education.
The city's initiative stems from placing "education and childcare" as key development keywords, having met multiple times with Gyeonggi Province Superintendent of Education Kim Sang-gon since his election to discuss ways to revitalize public education.
As a result, the city announced that its educational policy direction has been partly accepted in the innovative education district plan promoted by the Provincial Office of Education.
Currently, the city has established an innovative education task force team and is implementing an educational master plan that includes designation and operation of innovative leading schools and multiplex schools.
Additionally, the city is exploring various solutions to address financial difficulties currently facing the municipal treasury.
Hwaseong City's fiscal situation is challenging due to 150 billion won in uncollected funds from LH Corporation's financial issues, decreased tax revenue, early budget execution, and large-scale public facility projects pursued within a short timeframe.
To address this, the city is tackling the problem through suspension of festivals and events, discovery of hidden tax sources and revenue expansion, budget reduction through cost-cutting, and sale of public property.
In addition, regarding the management rationalization of local public enterprises, including the Hwaseong Cultural Foundation, and securing fiscal soundness, the city is currently in the legislative notice phase for amending relevant ordinances, and expects to see tangible results around January next year after going through the city council in October.
In particular, given the need for careful reexamination of large-scale projects requiring substantial budgets, the city is coordinating with relevant institutions on measures to minimize damage.
Mayor Chae In-seok stated, "As the chief representative of Hwaseong City, I plan to focus administrative capacity on creating favorable childcare and educational conditions for raising children and constructing a happy welfare city where no one is left behind."
● Promoting "innovative education" including designation as an innovative education district
On the 13th of last month, Hwaseong City became the first in the province to form an innovative education task force team and organized an innovative education expert group with participation from education experts and citizens, hosting forums to gather opinions from all sectors.
On the 4th, the city held a briefing on Hwaseong City's innovative education district master plan at City Hall's Grand Hall, inviting about 100 school principals from various educational levels.
According to the master plan, the city plans to designate and operate two innovative leading schools each from elementary, middle, and high schools in urban and rural areas respectively, with a plan to gradually expand to the entire city by 2015.
Innovative leading schools will operate as "small classes" with fewer than 20 students per class, and the city will provide support for normalizing public education, including operation of "after-school childcare classrooms," installation of small libraries for community members, and reduction of teachers' workload through use of intern teachers.
In particular, the city plans to promote the creation of a Hwaseong-specific education specialized model, the Multiplex H-Edutown.
The multiplex school, to be established within residential development districts, will be a 10-story complex facility centered on elementary, middle, and high schools, integrating school functions with childcare, culture, and sports facilities to complement public education, creating an "open school"-centered edu-town where residents and students jointly use various convenience facilities.
● Improving quality of life through health, welfare, and urban planning
In the healthcare and welfare sector, the city plans to provide a "365 emergency medical quick-call service" under a plan to establish a convenient and accessible healthcare system.
The city will designate emergency assistants centered on village chiefs and women's leaders, establish a rapid emergency vehicle transport system through operation of dedicated emergency medical institutions, and resolve medical service blind spots to improve healthcare accessibility.
Additionally, the city plans to promote the "creating a good health center" project through modernization of health and medical facilities and 24-hour operation of health centers.
To this end, by 2014, the city plans to expand health clinics, health centers, and integrated health centers to establish a system enabling easy health management 24 hours a day from anywhere through 24-hour health services.
Meanwhile, the city aims to effectively prevent indiscriminate and unplanned development in non-urban areas and establish a pleasant and environmentally friendly urban growth foundation through planned and systematic urban management.
To this end, the city will not only enact an ordinance on development permit standards to prevent haphazard development but also establish a "plan first, develop later" system to minimize damage to original residents of development areas.
Furthermore, by expanding the semi-industrial complexes currently being implemented, the city plans to contribute to the revitalization of the local economy through industrial district redevelopment and planned development including existing factories, thereby enhancing companies' productivity and achieving co-prosperity with local residents.
● Building a regional transportation hub in the southern Seoul metropolitan area
Hwaseong City plans to establish a comprehensive transportation interchange connecting KTX and GTX within the Dongtan 2 New City's regional business complex to serve as a hub for regional transportation in the southern Seoul metropolitan area.
With the completion of the basic plan for the complex interchange and design placement guidelines for connecting facilities currently being promoted by the Ministry of Land, Transport, and Maritime Affairs, the city plans to develop an interchange design model conforming to these guidelines and coordinate with LH for implementation.
In accordance with plans to extend the Shinbundang Line through Bongdam and Hyangnam to Pyeongtaek Port, the city plans to extend a total of 15km from Homae-sil through Bongdam and Hyangnam to Pyeongtaek Port, utilizing the existing Shinbundang Line, Seohae Line, and the Pyeongtaek-Poseung railroad.
Mayor Chae In-seok stated, "At the time of taking office, I pledged as the city's chief representative to build Korea's best city where all citizens can be happy," and expressed confidence, saying, "Although the city faces difficult financial circumstances, we will certainly be able to overcome them if citizens and civil servants work together."
Mayor Chae emphasized, "Hwaseong City, having surpassed 500,000 residents as the 14th largest city in the nation on September 27th, is a 'city of opportunity and growth' that can grow into a city of one million people by 2015," adding, "We will do our best to create a welfare-oriented Hwaseong where no one is left behind and everyone is happy through education, childcare, healthcare, and more."
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