Incheon 4 National Corporations Invest 84.4 Billion KRW in Facilities to Reduce Air Pollutants

The country's first eco-friendly tugboat 'Songdoho (310t)' using liquefied natural gas (LNG) as fuel was deployed at Incheon Port in September last year. Tugboats emit a large amount of air pollutants due to their high power output used to push or pull large vessels, so an environmentally friendly transition to LNG is required. [Provided by Incheon Port Authority]

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Hyesook] Four national public corporations in the Incheon area will invest 84.4 billion KRW this year to improve facilities in order to reduce air pollutants.

On the 13th, Incheon City announced that it held a meeting of the 'Incheon Clean Corporation Council,' consisting of Incheon International Airport Corporation, Korea Gas Corporation, Incheon Port Authority, and Sudokwon Landfill Site Management Corporation, and decided to proceed with this plan.

First, Incheon International Airport Corporation will invest 9.5 billion KRW to reduce fine dust by reducing emissions from vehicles and equipment within the airport and installing ground power supply units for aircraft.

Incheon Port Authority will invest 7.6 billion KRW in installing shore power supply facilities for ships and renewable energy projects such as solar power generation facilities to improve port air quality, while Sudokwon Landfill Site Management Corporation will invest 65.1 billion KRW in installing air pollution and odor prevention facilities and managing infrastructure.

Additionally, Korea Gas Corporation plans to invest 2.2 billion KRW to reduce nitrogen oxides by improving the performance of seawater-type vaporizers and managing the transition to low-sulfur fuel for ships.

Last year, these corporations invested a total of 70.4 billion KRW in environmental improvement projects, reducing air pollutants including 213 tons of nitrogen oxides (NOX), 108 tons of sulfur oxides (SOX), 16.4 tons of total dust, and 146,780 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2), a greenhouse gas.

The city signed an agreement in 2016 with the four national public corporations, which have a large share of air pollutant emissions in the region, and has been continuously cooperating on environmental improvement projects to reduce air pollutant emissions.

An official from Incheon City stated, "Efforts and collaboration from public institutions are the top priority to reduce air pollutants," adding, "As a result of the investments by the four corporations last year, the annual average concentration of fine particulate matter (PM2.5), which was 26㎍/㎥ in 2016, improved to 20㎍/㎥ last year."

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