Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
The Park administration has laid out its budget and the details of more than 1-hundred planned
regional projects. Here's Arirang's economics correspondent Kim
Han-ul with more. President Park's plan for regional development is finally picking up
steam. More than 1-hundred-60 projects will be implemented
to fulfill her 1-hundred-06 detailed pledges for 15 regional districts in Korea.
Eighty-four trillion won or around 73 billion U.S. dollars will be put into 96 new projects,
while 40 trillion won or roughly 35 billion dollars will be used to fund projects that
are already on-going. This puts the total at 108 billion dollars.
In terms of the new projects, priority will be given to those who have already passed
the preliminary evaluation to prove its validity. President Park has been emphasizing the need
to come up with economic measures that cater to each region, which she believes will ultimately
lead to national growth. She first announced her vision back in December
when running for the presidency, and Friday's announcement shows her efforts to turn her
vision into reality. It included the detailed scope, action plans
and the budget for each project. The government, considering its tight economic
budget, plans to implement a public-private partnership model, called Build-Transfer-Lease
or the BLT model. Under this model, the private organization
designs, finances and builds the facility on public land, and then operates the facility
until the lease ends, and then transfers ownership to the government.
The Finance Ministry plans to finish its budget evaluations for new projects by the end of
next year. Kim Han-ul, Arirang News.