Chungnam Saves 12.9 Billion KRW in Budget Through Contract Reviews for Construction and Services

[Asia Economy (Hongseong) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] The Chungnam Province Audit Committee saved 12.9 billion KRW in the first half of this year through pre-cost reviews of 740 contracts including construction, services, and goods procurement.

According to the provincial audit committee on the 9th, the budget savings by project were 9.9 billion KRW for construction (307 cases), 2.7 billion KRW for services (203 cases), and 300 million KRW for goods procurement (230 cases).

The saved budget is the result of reflecting the appropriateness of cost estimation by design item and the selection of construction methods.

Typically, when carrying out construction contracts over 1 billion KRW, if a design change requires an increase of more than 10%, the validity of the design change is reviewed through the Contract Review Committee. During this process, the provincial audit committee saved 200 million KRW over four occasions.

Additionally, the committee operates the “Construction Project Resource Information Sharing System,” which integrates management of construction resources such as unused soil, paving blocks, culverts, and trees generated at various construction sites to prevent unnecessary budget expenditures.

Using this system, the audit committee provided real-time information to places where resources were actually needed and recycled 98,000 cubic meters of earth and stone from 272 cases, achieving a budget saving of 400 million KRW.

The review is not conducted solely to reduce the budget. In some cases, it identifies under-designs in safety and quality improvement areas and increases project costs accordingly.

For example, the budget for 59 cases, including the Buyeo Rural Local Water Supply Project, was ultimately increased by 1.1 billion KRW compared to the initially allocated amount. This is a measure to prevent poor-quality services and construction.

Kim Jong-young, chairman of the provincial audit committee, said, “The audit committee has received positive responses by operating on-site contract reviews that visit locations to alleviate the inconvenience for residents who would otherwise have to visit the provincial office for contract consultations. We will continue to strive to ensure that audit administration is not only focused on pointing out administrative errors but also serves as a means to provide tangible benefits to residents.”

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