Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport to Invest 210 Billion KRW in River Sector New Deal Projects Next Year

[Asia Economy Reporter Yoo In-ho] The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced on the 15th that it has secured a budget of 210 billion KRW for the 2021 fiscal year for the Korean New Deal project in the river sector, and will actively promote the New Deal project in the river sector to reduce flood damage and improve river management efficiency.

Following the approval of the New Year government budget bill by the National Assembly on the 2nd, a budget of 180 billion KRW was confirmed for the construction of an automatic and remote control system for drainage facilities on national rivers, and 30 billion KRW for the establishment of a real-time monitoring system for national rivers, both part of the Korean New Deal project in the river sector.

Until now, management of national rivers has relied on manpower, with personnel directly accessing riverbanks such as embankments to assess situations and respond. Despite embankments being maintained, drainage facilities within the embankments were often not closed in time, causing frequent flooding of farmland and houses.

Accordingly, the Korean New Deal project in the river sector plans to realize 'SOC digitalization' as part of the 'Digital New Deal'.

By converting the manpower-dependent river management method to a digital approach, it aims to prevent flood damage caused by drainage facilities on national rivers and respond swiftly to floods through real-time monitoring.

This year, 90 billion KRW has already been invested to commence detailed design and construction of drainage facilities on national rivers in 148 local governments. Next year, with a budget of 180 billion KRW, an automatic and remote control system will be established for about 57% (2,024 sites) of the total target sites (3,580 sites) by the end of the year.

Regarding the real-time monitoring system for national rivers, CCTV for river management will be installed on national rivers, and a system will be established to allow local land management office control rooms to monitor on-site situations.

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