Kim Oksu, Gwangju Seo-gu Council Member, "City's False Administration, Circumstances of Promotion After Establishing Pungam Lake Reclamation Plan"

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Shin Dong-ho] Kim Ok-su, a member of the Gwangju Metropolitan City Seo-gu Council, stated on the 24th, "The reclamation plan for Pungam Lake by Gwangju City and Bitgoeul Central Park Development Co., Ltd. has already been established and is underway," and claimed, "As evidence, they presented documents showing that the replacement facilities for Pungam Lake agricultural water, owned by the Rural Development Administration, were awarded to a contractor through the Public Procurement Service, deceiving residents with false administration."

The replacement facilities for Pungam Lake that Councilor Kim refers to involve an investment of 3.7 billion KRW for two pumping stations and water transmission pipeline construction to draw water from the Yeongsan River for rice farming after discontinuing the agricultural water function of Pungam Reservoir, covering 38.1 hectares of farmland in the Byeokjin and Mareuk-dong areas of Seochang.

For this project, the Rural Development Administration has already completed administrative procedures such as work reviews and consultations regarding the River Act, its enforcement decree, and Gwangju City's road management ordinance with Gwangju City, Yeongsan River Basin Environmental Office, and Flood Control Office.

Gwangju City is known to have planned, as a key step for reclaiming Pungam Lake, to block the inflow of Yeongsan River water to improve water quality, thereby discontinuing the agricultural water function, and to sell Pungam Lake for 30 billion KRW, using 282,000 cubic meters of soil from the excavation site of the Central Park apartment construction as landfill.

As the first step, starting from December 2020, 7,500 tons of inflow water per day has been introduced through a project to draw Yeongsan River water linked with the Seochangcheon Hometown River creation project, which eliminated the foul odor.

However, as rainfall decreased by 44-69% this year and the foul odor reoccurred, the T/F data was distorted as a pretext, and the next step, the two pumping stations that must be installed after discontinuing the agricultural water function of Pungam Lake, were announced, awarded, and construction proceeded, indicating that internal decisions among Gwangju City, Central Park Development Co., Ltd., and the Rural Development Administration have already been finalized and only formal procedures are ongoing.

Nevertheless, Gwangju City claims that nothing has been decided yet and is promoting resident meetings and the formation of resident consultative bodies.

In response, Councilor Kim said, "Even now, immediately disclose all hidden internal documents, apologize to the residents, and gather residents' opinions through public discussion to establish an eco-friendly water quality improvement plan based on preserving the original form of Pungam Lake."

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