Suwon Mayor Yeom Tae-young: "Must Create SOC Infrastructure That Reflects the Voice of Grassroots Government"

[Suwon Ilbo = Reporter Seo Dong-young] At the '2020 Life SOC Complexification Improvement Forum' held on the morning of the 3rd at the National Assembly Library Grand Hall by the Council of Mayors and Governors Nationwide, opinions were raised that a system to actively utilize state-owned land is necessary to activate life SOC complexification projects.

The forum, hosted by the offices of Representatives Kim Doo-kwan and Park Kwang-on and organized by the Council of Good Local Governments and the Council of Mayors and Governors Nationwide, was held to share cases and achievements promoted this year and to identify problems to be reflected in next year's policies.

The forum also proceeded with the goal of implementing citizen-oriented policies centered on grassroots local governments by collecting opinions and improvements from basic local governments, which are the execution units of life SOC complexification.

The presentation at the forum included Lee Eun-jin, Chair of the Education and Welfare Specialization Committee of the Presidential Committee on Balanced National Development, presenting on 'The Direction of Life SOC Complexification Projects,' and Kim Mi-kyung, District Chief of Eunpyeong-gu, Seoul, presenting on 'Cases from Basic Local Governments and Improvements to Life SOC Complexification in 2020.'

Lee Eun-jin stressed the need to expand facilities subject to complexification projects and establish location plans based on living areas from the urban development stage. She also expressed the view that improvements should be made to enable local governments to utilize idle state-owned land as life SOC sites, thereby promoting the use of state-owned land.

District Chief Kim Mi-kyung cited the construction of Eunpyeong-gu's Jeungsan Complex Culture and Sports Center as an example. She pointed out the difficulty for grassroots governments with insufficient own resources to pursue projects, arguing that ultimately only local governments with strong finances pursue projects, leading to a rich-get-richer, poor-get-poorer phenomenon in life SOC projects. To improve this, she presented the need for the government to provide local governments with information on state-owned land where life SOC facilities can be installed through a fact-finding survey.

Woo Myung-dong, Professor of Economics at Sungshin Women's University, then served as moderator, and discussions proceeded among experts from various fields including local governments, academia, research institutes, and the press.

In particular, Yeom Tae-young, Chairman of the Council of Mayors and Governors Nationwide, emphasized that the opinions of grassroots governments, which are direct implementers of life SOC projects, should be reflected.

Chairman Yeom Tae-young said, "Life SOC complexification is important not only to solve social issues such as low birth rates and aging populations but also to prevent regional extinction. It is time to put our heads together to create SOC infrastructure that citizens can feel through projects that reflect the voice of grassroots government."

Meanwhile, the government plans to invest 30 trillion won over three years from next year through 2022, starting with 8.7 trillion won this year in 'community-oriented life SOC,' to build core living infrastructure.