 |
||
| ▲ Ahn Seung-nam Mayor of Guri City | ||
Guri City is pushing forward ‘citizen happy platform’ in an effort to achieve its work-life balance goal of the year 2020. For this, the city has put up a number of key words: long livable city, healthy city, smart city, eco-friendly city, education city, tourist city and citizen-based city. A total of 5 visions with 24 core tasks and 157 strategic projects have been set. Mayor Seungnam Ahn took the steering wheel 17 months ago and has made progress in 75 of his 92 pledged projects in the fields of industry, economy, culture, tourism, environment, safety, regional development, health, welfare, education and sports. Below is Q&A.
A. Tell us about Food Tech Valley.
A. It is a project to relocate the Guri Agricultural and Marine Products Market opened in June 1997. The Korea Safety Inspection Agency marked the market with the grade C due to the level of worn out so relocation is necessary. The city is expecting the market will play a landmark that can compare with the Garak Market in Songpa District Seoul. This Food Tech Valley will activate regional economy by drawing people and tourists alike.
Q. Tell us about Guri World Design City.
A. It was first brought up in May 2008. But it is still lingering on appraisal by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety for investment. In order to draw the investment from the central government, we must involve foreign investment. Currently, we are waiting for an answer from an ‘A’ investment firm in the US.
Q. Tell us about ‘888 Happy Policy’.
A. The 888 Happy Policy is backed up by a recently passed ordinance. The policy covers various areas such as safety, urban regeneration, multicultural family community, pet playground, day care center, job center, women center and cultural center. It is an ongoing policy of the city for continuous advancement. The city has secured 4 billion won budget from the state as well as 11.3 billion won from 18 competitions to give out. As a result, a day care center is to run from March this year at Dongin Elementary School. Also, a lifelong learning center for the 737 residents with development disability will open from June. And many more will follow suit one by one.
Q. We heard you are working on waste processing facilities?
A. We are working on building an incinerator to deal with daily 100 tons and a food waste processing facility to deal with daily 200 tons of waste. The city pays 31.2 billion won and the rest 137.6 billion won is shared between the state, Namyangju City and private entrepreneurs. Some citizens are not satisfied with this but we will find satisfactory solutions.
Q. Tell us about Galmae Knowledge Industry Center.
A. It is set to start October this year. The center will include community center, sports center, public house, landmark tower, design center, multipurpose apartment and stores. The city won the best local government prize in the regional welfare project appraisal carried out by the Ministry of Health and Welfare in 2019. So we are confident to make much progress of goals and plans in the year 2020 also.
백종원 기자 bridgekorea@naver.com
