As of last year, Jeonnam Development Corporation had a debt ratio of 27.6%, the highest level of financial soundness among development corporations nationwide, and has achieved 11 consecutive years of profitable management. By contrast, Gwangju Metropolitan Corporation stands at the opposite end, with its debt ratio reaching 257% over the same period, branding it a troubled public agency.
The two public agencies at opposite extremes are to be merged.
Naturally, considerable difficulties are expected, along with repercussions such as controversy over preferential treatment.
This situation, which appears strange to anyone, is becoming a reality.
The reason is that the integration of 25 public agencies in Jeonnam and Gwangju with similar functions is being pushed as part of the 100-day integration implementation plan, the first item approved by Integrated Special City Mayor Min Hyung-bae.
In response, Choi Seon-guk, a member of the Jeonnam-Gwangju Integrated Special City Council (Democratic Party, Mokpo 1), raised his voice and strongly criticized the situation currently unfolding.
Choi said on the 15th, "If the integration and functional restructuring of public agencies proceeds as a speed campaign without any principles, it could hold back regional development for more than the next 10 years."
He particularly criticized the current situation, in which the conversion of Jeonnam Development Corporation into an energy corporation and the transfer of its development functions to Gwangju Metropolitan Corporation are under review. Choi pointed out, "The structure of stripping away Jeonnam Development Corporation's development functions and highly profitable businesses and handing them over to Gwangju Metropolitan Corporation, which has a high debt ratio, damages a sound company and grants favors to a troubled one, and it weakens Jeonnam region's development capacity."
Above all, Choi pointed to the impracticality of the plan to integrate and restructure 25 public agencies, which calls for agreeing on major issues within six months and completing the process within one year.
Choi said, "Some agencies are corporations, some are public enterprises, and some are contribution-funded institutions, so legal review alone appears likely to take more than six months. Finishing it within one year is close to impossible."
He also pointed to the impracticality of the plan to integrate Jeonnam's Green Energy Institute and Environmental Industry Promotion Agency with Gwangju's Climate and Energy Promotion Agency in a two-to-one merger.
He also criticized the overall absence of principles in pushing the integration.
Choi stressed, "Just as the guiding principle of the Jeonnam-Gwangju integration was 'the exclusion of disadvantage,' clear principles are also needed for the integration of public agencies," adding, "To resolve various sensitive issues such as headquarters location, compensation systems, work locations, and employment succession, clear principles must be established first." He then asserted, "Integration without principles could be a disaster for both sides," and "We must focus first on establishing direction and principles, not speed."
