Hit-or-miss Smart City Project... Board of Audit and Inspection "Ministry of Land and LH Warned"

Board of Audit and Inspection: "Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Must Conduct Thorough Supervision"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Seon-ae] More than half of the smart city projects being promoted by local governments nationwide are proceeding without properly established related plans. To build a smart city, local governments must establish a 'Smart City Plan,' and project implementers must prepare an 'Implementation Plan.'

However, according to the audit report on the "Promotion Status of Smart City Development Projects" released by the Board of Audit and Inspection on the 5th, out of 58 smart city districts nationwide, 13 are proceeding without plans established by the local governments. Additionally, 5 districts did not revise their plans despite changes in circumstances.

Furthermore, the Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH), as the project implementer, is required to prepare implementation plans, but the Board of Audit and Inspection pointed out that LH has not established implementation plans for 34 out of the 58 smart city districts, which is more than half.

There were also cases where urban infrastructure not included in the implementation plans was constructed because the department responsible for establishing the implementation plans was different from the department in charge of urban infrastructure, and after completion, the local governments refused to take over, leaving the infrastructure abandoned.

The Board of Audit and Inspection urged the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport to thoroughly supervise and guide to ensure that smart city projects are not implemented without proper planning.

It also requested LH to strictly manage its tasks to prevent omissions of urban infrastructure in the implementation plans.

Additionally, the Board of Audit and Inspection notified the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and LH to prepare supplementary measures to enhance service utilization, pointing out that the actual operation status and utilization rates were not properly reviewed during the provision of smart city service linkage subsidies and service construction, resulting in low utilization.

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