Busan is good

Busan Metropolitan City to Operate Consultative Body for the Commencement of the “Busan Cooperative Fish Market Modernization Project” Within This Year

내용

Busan Metropolitan City (Mayor Park Heong-joon) announced that, with the selection of the successful bidder for the detailed design technical proposal tender for the “Busan Cooperative Fish Market Modernization Project,” it will hold the first meeting of the “Design Document Supplement Consultative Body” today (August 14) at 4:00 p.m. at the Busan Cooperative Fish Market, in preparation for groundbreaking this December.

The “Design Document Supplement Consultative Body” consists of the Director General of Oceans, Agriculture, and Fisheries Bureau of the city, the Director General of Construction Headquarters of the city, the CEO of the Busan Cooperative Fish Market Joint Business Corporation, the heads of the National Federation of Fisheries Cooperatives and five local fisheries cooperatives, the Director of Distribution Policy Division at the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, and the HJ Heavy Industries Consortium. The body will hold regular consultative meetings every Thursday from August 14 to September 4.

This is a follow-up to the “Busan Cooperative Fish Market Modernization Project Related Organizations Meeting” held on August 7 at the Cooperative Fish Market, where it was agreed to promptly establish and operate the consultative body for supplementing the design documents, in consideration of the urgent project schedule for groundbreaking within the year.

The HJ Heavy Industries Consortium, selected through the technical proposal bidding method, plans to thoroughly review and reflect the opinions gathered from the consultative body to supplement the design documents, complete various permits, and prepare for construction, with full-scale work starting at the end of the year.

Once modernized, the Busan Cooperative Fish Market will be transformed into a central wholesale market established by the city, utilizing rapid and sanitary automated logistics facilities to improve the efficiency of fish auctioning and freshness management.

Central wholesale market: According to Article 17 of the Act on Distribution and Price Stabilization of Agricultural and Fishery Products, this refers to an agricultural and fishery wholesale market established by a metropolitan city, special city, special self-governing city, or special self-governing province, serving as the central wholesale market in its jurisdiction and adjacent areas.

After modernization, the “Fishery Products Landing Market,” previously operated under the Act on Management and Support of Distribution of Fishery Products, will be converted into a central wholesale market subject to the Act on Distribution and Price Stabilization of Agricultural and Fishery Products. Under this act, the city will have the authority to determine various licensing matters, including wholesale market operators, payment methods, and commission fees.

The Busan Cooperative Fish Market is the largest landing market in Korea, handling 30 percent of coastal and inshore fishery products nationwide and 80 percent of domestic mackerel. In 2024, it traded 125,000 tons of fishery products, with a production value of KRW 275.7 billion.

The “Busan Cooperative Fish Market Modernization Project” aims to replace the outdated facilities, built in 1973, and improve the unsanitary auction environment. The project will redevelop the market into a safe and advanced facility, with a total floor area of 61,971 square meters on a 60,198.1-square-meter site, at a total cost of KRW 241.2 billion.

Jeong Yeon-song, CEO of the Cooperative Fish Market, said, “The modernization project has reached this stage after many years of effort. We hope that the requirements of the market users will be fully reflected through this consultative body.”

Park Geun-rok, Director General of Oceans, Agriculture, and Fisheries Bureau, stated, “We will enhance public service for both the public and citizens, and strengthen communication and consultation with the market, so that the Busan Cooperative Fish Market, the largest landing market in the country, can maintain its status as a central hub for fishery product distribution through the modernization project.”