Ministry of Environment's Supplementary Budget of 478.1 Billion Won Passed by National Assembly "Half to be Executed Within Two Months"

The Ministry of Environment's 3rd Supplementary Budget Reduced by 125 Billion Won After National Assembly Review

On the 18th, at the Government Seoul Office in Jongno-gu, Seoul, participants including Minister of Environment Cho Myung-rae are listening to remarks by Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun during the National Affairs Inspection and Coordination Meeting. / Photo by Moon Ho-nam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bo-kyung] The Ministry of Environment's third supplementary budget (supplementary budget) has passed the National Assembly at 478.1 billion won, reduced by 125 billion won from the original government proposal. The loan project budget for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and mid-sized companies facing management difficulties has shrunk from 330 billion won to 200 billion won.

According to the government on the 4th, the 478.1 billion won supplementary budget under the Ministry of Environment was confirmed at the plenary session of the National Assembly the day before. It was reduced by 125 billion won from the government proposal (603.1 billion won) submitted to the National Assembly last month. The supplementary budget projects are largely composed of ▲Green New Deal ▲direct jobs ▲support for SMEs and Digital New Deal, among others.

Green New Deal-related project areas include smart water and sewage system construction (19.6 billion won), distribution of electric cargo vehicles, two-wheelers, and excavators (111.5 billion won), future environmental industry development loans (200 billion won), and smart eco-factory construction (10.1 billion won).

Originally, the Ministry of Environment allocated 330 billion won to the future environmental industry development loan project to provide additional support to SMEs and mid-sized companies struggling with management difficulties due to the recent COVID-19 impact, but this was reduced to 200 billion won during the National Assembly review. The smart sewage system construction project was newly established at a scale of 4 trillion won during the National Assembly discussions.

Direct job creation to overcome the employment crisis will use 62.4 billion won. Tasks include preventing the spread and damage of African swine fever (8.1 billion won) and separating and improving the quality of recyclable waste (42.2 billion won).

The Ministry of Environment will promote system transition projects utilizing advanced technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT) and Information and Communication Technology (ICT). Specifically, these include ▲establishing an air pollutant monitoring system using environmental satellites (14.1 billion won) ▲supporting installation of automatic odor sample collection devices (3 billion won) ▲supporting SMEs in chemical safety law and chemical product safety law compliance (14.8 billion won), among others.

An official from the Ministry of Environment stated, "We plan to execute half of the supplementary budget within the next two months, 75% within three months, and aim for 100% execution by the end of the year." He added, "We will operate an execution inspection team led by the Planning and Coordination Office chief and conduct on-site inspections to ensure thorough management of budget execution."

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