Seoul to invest ₩48T to boost city's competitiveness and standing

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Seoul to invest ₩48T to boost city's competitiveness and standing

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon speaks during a press conference about "Seoul Vision 2030" at Seoul City Hall in central Seoul on Wednesday. [YONHAP]

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon speaks during a press conference about "Seoul Vision 2030" at Seoul City Hall in central Seoul on Wednesday. [YONHAP]

 
Seoul will invest 48 trillion won ($40.9 billion) in the city by 2030 in an effort to restore its global competitiveness and social standing, the Seoul Metropolitan Government said Wednesday.
 
Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon unveiled Wednesday a master plan for the city’s administration until 2030 — dubbed “Seoul Vision 2030.”
 
In his inaugural address in April, Oh vowed to “establish a future vision of Seoul together” with administrative institutions, policy experts and representatives of civic groups.
 
Since May, a committee consisting of such experts and citizens has held over 100 meetings and finally drafted Seoul Vision 2030.
 
The top motto of Seoul Vision 2030 was set as “Seoul, a fair city that runs again.” To this end, the city set four future objectives: a city of coexistence; global competitiveness; safe living and working environment; and futurity.
 
To guarantee fair competition and narrow the gaps between the rich and the poor in housing, education, jobs and social welfare, Oh suggested building as many as 80,000 new houses per year, supporting job seeking for young people and senior citizens, and reviving mom-and-pop stores.
 
The city said it will continue running its free online education program “Seoul Learn,” to help bridge the learning gap between students from different socioeconomic backgrounds. Next year it also plans to kick off a pilot program of a selective welfare system that provides different amounts of cash to people according to their income status, known as “safe income.”
 
Seoul aims to boost its ranking on the Global Cities Index (GCI) to get in the top five and increase its unicorn companies, or start-ups that are valued at $1 billion or more, to 40 by 2030.
 
As part of the move to strengthen the city’s attractiveness as a global city, Seoul plans to turn Yeouido in western Seoul into a special digital financial zone and designate the Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP) and Dongdaemun District in eastern Seoul as a beauty industry hub. The city also plans to set up an investment board next year — similar to Singapore's Economic Development Board (EDB) or Hong Kong's InvestHK — responsible for attracting overseas investment and supporting corporate projects.
 
In a bid to create a safe and healthy environment, Oh said they also plan to establish a "smart health care system" that will allow Seoulites to keep track of their health through their mobile devices, and the government also plans to create a metaverse-based Seoul and utilize it to make Seoul into a futuristic city.
 
The city also aims to reduce its carbon emissions by 40 percent of the current level by 2030 and reach zero emissions by 2050, along with reducing the concentration of ultrafine dust to lower than the national environmental standard of 15 to 13 micrograms per cubic meter.
 
“I will run again to make Seoul a place where everyone can dream, and where fairness and mutual growth are guaranteed with supreme global competitiveness,” Oh said.

BY SEO JI-EUN [seo.jieun1@joongang.co.kr]
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