Sunchang-gun Promotes 'Protection of Residents' Property Rights' for Reservoir-Included Land

Published 28 Jul.2023 16:46(KST)

Sunchang-gun, Jeonbuk Province, will promote the protection of residents' property rights by purchasing private land incorporated into reservoirs within the jurisdiction that have been installed and used for public purposes.

To this end, the county plans to allocate 500 million KRW from the upcoming supplementary budget. On the 28th, it announced plans to carry out the purchase of private land for reservoirs that were installed without any compensation procedures for landowners, citing the facilities' public interest purpose.

Choi Young-il, Sunchang County Governor. [Photo by Sunchang County]

This land purchase initiative comes after continuous complaints from private landowners of the reservoirs requesting purchase, but no appropriate compensation procedures had been in place until now.

In response, County Governor Choi Young-il ordered a full survey of the land for 134 reservoirs managed by the county. The investigation confirmed that out of the 134 reservoirs, 125 reservoirs include 606 parcels of private land totaling 459,923㎡ (approximately 139,000 pyeong).

The county identified that the background for the use of private land as reservoirs dates back to around 1943 during the Japanese colonial period, when the Government-General of Korea implemented the 2nd Emergency Water Source Expansion Project (aimed at expanding water management for rice farming), incorporating private land into reservoirs. Additionally, from 1946 to the 1980s, during the agricultural promotion policies era, private landowners verbally consented to the use of their land for farming activities, but the land was used as reservoirs without any compensation.

To resolve these issues, the county plans to sequentially conduct appraisals and purchase 221 parcels of private land (owned by 176 individuals) totaling 161,822㎡ (approximately 49,000 pyeong) within reservoirs constructed after 1946, based on the order of application submissions.

In particular, the county views this compensation for private land within public-purpose reservoirs as a pioneering policy unique to Sunchang-gun, which is difficult to find in other local governments, and expects it to serve as a model example for other municipalities to follow.

Governor Choi Young-il said, “I hope this will be a good opportunity for residents to receive fair compensation for their property,” and added, “We will continue to do our best to protect the property rights of our residents.”