Council aims to coordinate regulatory reform efforts across member cities
Namyangju is moving to join the Joint Response Council of Municipalities in the Overcrowding Control Zone, a body that coordinates regulatory reform efforts across the designated area and identifies policy improvements suited to local conditions.
The overcrowding control zone is a designation under the Metropolitan Area Readjustment Planning Act intended to curb excessive concentration of population and industry. Municipalities within the zone face restrictions on building or expanding factories, designating or rezoning industrial areas, and carrying out large-scale development projects, including university construction.
The council was established Nov. 30, 2023, to give local governments within the overcrowding control zone a collective platform for responding to metropolitan-area regulations and sharing regional concerns.
Of the 14 local governments in Gyeonggi Province that fall within the zone, 12 — including Suwon — joined the council in 2023, and Siheung followed in September 2024. Namyangju is currently the only one of the 14 that has yet to join.
After receiving a membership invitation from Suwon in July, the city conducted an internal review and plans to complete the joining process by the end of this year. Once a member, Namyangju intends to share information on policy and regulatory changes related to the zone, exchange case studies with other municipalities, and take part in joint research projects and petitions to central government ministries.
The city plans to use the council as a forum for issues that individual municipalities cannot easily tackle alone, pursuing joint discussions and recommendations at the council level. Building on that, it aims to identify regulatory reform tasks suited to local conditions and submit joint proposals to the central government and the National Assembly to strengthen the practical impact of institutional improvements.
"There are limits to what individual local governments can achieve on their own when it comes to reforming overcrowding-zone regulations," said Kim Jun-mo, head of the urban policy division. "By joining the council, we will build a coordinated response framework with municipalities facing similar regulatory conditions and work to identify and propose effective reform measures needed to support regional growth and expand the industrial base."
pjh@heraldcorp.com
