VietNamNet Bridge – The Korean city of Daegu will help build an integrated managment centre on green and smart urban management in the central city of Da Nang. The information was conveyed on Wednesday to the central city’s leadership by the head of Planning and Coordination of the Deagu Metropolitan City, Ku Bon-geun.

The swing bridge spanning the Han River in Da Nang. The Korean city of Daegu will help Da Nang build a centre for environmental sustainability and urban management. — Photo: VNS

Ku Bon-geun said the centre will support Da Nang in applying information technology (IT) in urban management, disaster prevention, search and rescue and resilience to climate change.

The vice chairman of the Da Nang City’s People’s Committee, Ho Ky Minh, said the city will offer the best conditions for construction of the centre.

Minh said Da Nang launched its e-Government initiative in 2014, offering free wireless internet services with 20,000 connections for local residents and tourists at major public spaces and streets across the city.

The central city also provided 1,196 on-line administration procedures, including one-stop shops, residential management, public transport and water supervision through the e-Government system.

Last year, the city and the telecommunications group Viettel signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for developing Da Nang into a smart city by 2020.

Both Vietnamese and Korean budget airlines operate daily flights connecting Korean cities and Da Nang since 2014.

T’way Air, a low-cost airline based in Seoul, launched a new direct flight connecting Da Nang and Daegu – the company’s third route between Korea and Viet Nam in addition to direct flights from Da Nang to Pusan and Muan.

According to the city’s tourism department, there are 12 flights from Korea to Da Nang every week, carrying an average of 1,500 passengers.

Last year, Da Nang and the South Korean city of Gyeongsan inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on development and co-operation in the cosmetics industry.

Tourists from South Korea comprise the second-largest segment of foreign tourist arrivals to Da Nang, with more than 443,000 – nearly 20 per cent of total foreign travelers – last year.

The central city is also home to 53 foreign direct investment projects from South Korea with total capital of US$734 million. 

VNS