Jeonnam Provincial Assembly Member Min Byung-dae Criticizes Health and Environment Research Institute as "Too Complacent"

Yeosu Industrial Complex Pollution Inspection Staff Reinforcement, Demand for Transparent Procurement of Supplies

Min Byeong-dae, Jeonnam Provincial Assembly Member

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Lee Jun-kyung] Min Byeong-dae, a member of the Jeonnam Provincial Assembly, pointed out the inadequacy of measures to increase personnel for air pollution inspection at the Yeosu Industrial Complex and demanded countermeasures.

On the 10th, Min Byeong-dae revealed that during the administrative audit of the Health and Environment Research Institute on the 9th, he criticized, “Although I have repeatedly raised the issue of increasing personnel for air pollution inspection after the Yeosu Industrial Complex air pollution emission manipulation incident, the measures taken have been considerably insufficient.”

He continued, “After the false manipulation incident of air pollution emissions at the Yeosu Industrial Complex, local residents are demanding investigations of all chimneys within the industrial complex due to strong anxiety and distrust,” and pointed out the problem of “the current personnel and equipment being grossly insufficient to handle air pollution and odor inspection tasks at the Yeosu Industrial Complex, requiring mid- to long-term planning and implementation.”

The air pollution emission manipulation at the Yeosu Industrial Complex was an incident in April last year where some companies within the complex colluded with an air pollution measurement agency to falsify the amount of pollutants emitted. In response, Jeonnam Province promised thorough management of environmental issues in the eastern region, including expanding automatic chimney monitoring devices and securing public accountability for self-measurement of air pollutants.

Additionally, Min questioned the Health and Environment Research Institute’s direct contract bidding method, stating, “This year, for proactive COVID-19 response, diagnostic reagents for testing were purchased through direct contracts from the same company and product, spending 250 million KRW in April and 740 million KRW in September,” and asked, “While direct contracts may be somewhat possible in cases of exclusive sales, isn’t it true that there is more than one manufacturer of diagnostic reagents in Korea?”

He also inquired about why the same fine dust automatic measurement equipment was purchased for 9 million KRW more than in Gwangju Metropolitan City after two contract attempts.

He then said, “There seems to be a problem with the Health and Environment Research Institute’s procurement contract method,” and ordered, “A bidding manual ensuring transparency must be prepared and submitted to the assembly.”

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