The National Growth Fund has approved a total of 18.9 trillion won in funding from January to September this year, as financial authorities establish a Risk Management Committee and a Post-Management Committee to enhance decision-making objectivity and transparency.
On September 17, the Financial Services Commission held a meeting of the National Growth Fund's Fund Management Review Committee, where it approved this restructuring of the decision-making system. On the same day, it also approved five funding projects, including the Yawol Offshore Wind Power Project and the AI transformation project of D&Solutions, totaling about 1 trillion won.
With this approval, the National Growth Fund has either approved or completed the formation of a total of 18.9 trillion won in funding by the end of September. Considering the indirect investment method scheduled for the fourth quarter, the Financial Services Commission anticipates achieving its goal of 30 trillion won in approvals and formations by the end of the year ahead of schedule.
The proportion of regional support based on the approved amount has exceeded the policy target of 40%, reaching 44.7%. In terms of the number of projects, the Chungcheong region had the highest number with nine, followed by the Yeongnam region with eight and the Honam region with six. In terms of funding amount, the Honam region received the largest share at 5.17 trillion won, with 4.56 trillion won allocated to infrastructure projects such as power generation.
The Financial Services Commission noted the need for more systematic risk management as the number of investments and the scale of support from the National Growth Fund have increased, leading to the establishment of separate committees.
The Risk Management Committee will consist of staff from the National Growth Fund Secretariat and external experts. It will independently review financial risks as well as non-financial risks such as reputation, governance, legal issues, and community acceptance from the project discovery stage until it is presented to the Fund Management Review Committee. The review results will be provided to the Investment Review Committee and the Fund Management Review Committee.
The Post-Management Committee will review the recovery methods after funding support, projects with concerns about defaults, and the need for early recovery. It will also advise on whether to execute the funds if project conditions change after approval. Both committees will begin operations in October, with the Post-Management Committee also reviewing projects approved before September.
Among the new funding projects approved that day, the Yawol Offshore Wind Power Project will receive 130 billion won in project financing loans. The total project cost is 757 billion won, and it aims to establish a 104 MW offshore wind farm near Yeonggwang County, Jeollanam-do. The project will utilize 13 domestically developed 8 MW offshore wind turbines from Doosan Enerbility.
D&Solutions' precision machine tool AX enhancement project will receive a total of 200 billion won in low-interest loans, including 150 billion won from the Advanced Strategic Industry Fund and up to 50 billion won in private funding. D&Solutions plans to establish a research and development center in Bucheon, Gyeonggi Province, to analyze data on vibrations and temperatures of machine tools using AI and enhance smart machine technology for automatic equipment calibration.
Additionally, 25 billion won will be allocated for the expansion of Hwaseong's electric vehicle battery pack case production line, 12 billion won for the expansion of PKC's high-purity chlorine gas production facility for semiconductors, and 32 billion won for the establishment of a production line for the humanoid lightweight structural frame by Conex.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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