"Focused Investment on Infectious Diseases and Climate Change Damage" ... Pre-Consultation on Disaster Safety Project Budget Initiated

[Asia Economy Reporter Jo In-kyung] The Ministry of the Interior and Safety announced on the 9th that it will begin the 2021 "Pre-consultation on Disaster Safety Project Budget" to enhance the investment effectiveness and efficiency of integrated disaster safety budgets within the government.

By the end of June, among the 496 disaster and safety management projects of all central administrative agencies (based on 2020, totaling 17.5 trillion KRW), 410 projects (16.8 trillion KRW) excluding research and development projects (R&D) will be reviewed for investment direction and priority opinions, and investment priority grades will be finalized.

The pre-consultation will be conducted in connection with major government policies based on the six key investment directions of the 2021 disaster safety budget established in February: ▲ proactive response to climate change risks ▲ strengthening response capabilities to new infectious diseases and complex disasters ▲ securing infrastructure resilience ▲ enhancing field-centered response capabilities ▲ strengthening prevention-centered life safety ▲ expanding inclusive safety management.

The investment priorities will reflect projects related to sectors where large-scale damage has occurred and where risks are expected to increase in the future as much as possible, and criteria for grade selection have been prepared so that the expected effects on public safety can be objectively evaluated among projects of each ministry.

Additionally, starting this year, budget review and management will be strengthened for core projects closely related to public life and safety and with high contributions to disaster safety policies among projects with expanded investment.

The pre-consultation plan prepared through this process will be preliminarily reviewed by the Safety Policy Coordination Committee (Chair: Minister of the Interior and Safety), deliberated by the Central Safety Management Committee (Chair: Prime Minister), then notified to the Ministry of Economy and Finance to be reflected in next year’s budget formulation.

Yoon Jong-jin, Director of the Safety Policy Office at the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, explained, "It is necessary to focus budget investment to prevent disasters that may cause large-scale damage such as new infectious diseases like COVID-19, climate change disasters like typhoons and fine dust, and accidents involving aging infrastructure, and to enhance response capabilities."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.