Incheon to Secure Record 7 Trillion Won from Govt Coffers

Incheon Mayor Park Chan-dae holds a meeting on government expenditures to the metropolitan municipal government for the year 2027 with Planning and Budget Minister Park Hong-keun at Korea Fiscal Information Service on July 24. (Photos: Incheon Metropolitan City)

A government budget proposal for next year has reflected the allotment of 7,086.3 billion won to Incheon Metropolitan City.

Incheon intends to additionally secure funding to implement major projects, such as supporting administrative reorganization during the upcoming parliamentary deliberation.

Incheon Metropolitan City said on Sept. 7 that national expenditures related to the city, which were reflected in the 2027 government budget proposal, stand at 7,086.3 billion won.

The money allotted to Incheon Metropolitan City was an increase of 186.3 billion won or 2.7 percent more than its original target of 6.9 trillion won.

The latest figure is a rise of 186.3 billion won or 9.5 percent more than 6,473.5 billion won actually allotted to the city for 2026.

The city government’s budget also accounts for the ordinary allocation of taxes, which is determined at year-end, meaning its budget allocation from national coffers could amount to 8 trillion won.

As for allocating national expenditures to major projects, the government budget proposal for next year sets aside 366.2 billion won for the Great Train eXpress (GTX) Line B, 203.2 billion won to implement the Gaeyang-Ganghwa Expressway project, and 268.9 billion won in support of infant and child care.

Allocations for Incheon Mayor Park Chan-dae’s first public pledge during his campaign, dubbed the “ABC+E” strategy, are also reflected in the government budget proposal for next year.

In the AI sector, 8.8 billion won has been reflected for building a blockchain center and autonomous manufacturing systems.

The government budget proposal also includes 13.2 billion won for global bio campus education in the bio sector and 2.5 billion won to develop regionally specialized content.

In the energy sector, 126.3 billion won has been reflected for supplying electric and hydrogen vehicles.

The municipal government has also seen some of its requests for funding rejected or reduced.

A budget for issuing e-gift cards, dubbed “Incheon-E-Eum,” requested by the municipal government, has been lowered to 75 billion, a reduction of 26.4 billion won from its original target of 101.4 billion won.

Incheon Metropolitan City failed to obtain allocations of 62.6 billion won to support administrative structural reorganization and 4.8 billion won to support quasi-management of metropolitan buses.

The municipal government has seen budgets for nine projects, including the mentioned one, reduced.

A bird’s eye-view of the planned Incheon Metropolitan City new building whose dedication is slated for December 2028.

Incheon Metropolitan City plans to secure national expenditure allocations, not reflected and deducted in the government budget proposal for next year in cooperation with representatives hailing from the Incheon area and member representatives of the National Assembly Special Committee on Budget & Accounts after holding budget policy consultation meetings.

Mayor Park said, “It is significant for us to secure budgets related to core projects that will drive Incheon’s future growth and public livelihoods, and we will concentrate on securing and executing budgets for reviving the regional economy and securing new growth engines.”

“Incheon Metropolitan City will devote itself to securing additional national expenditure allocations at the stage of parliamentary deliberation so that major pending projects can be implemented without interruption,” Mayor Park added.

As for a possible merger of Incheon International Airport Corp. and Korea Airports Corp. (KAC) in a meeting with reporters on July 17, Incheon Mayor Park made it clear the two entities will never be consolidated.

KAC is a Korean government-owned entity responsible for managing and operating 14 domestic airports and supporting aviation infrastructure nationwide.

He said he received a clear answer from the government, saying it will not discuss any merger of the entities when he made a recommendation to President Lee Jae-myung, who visited Yeongjong-gu.