[2024 Budget] Ministry of Environment Allocates 14.457 Trillion KRW for Next Year... Strengthening River Maintenance

The Ministry of Environment announced on the 29th that it has allocated a budget of 14.4567 trillion KRW for next year.

The Ministry explained that it has finalized the budget plan for next year, which is a 7.3% increase from this year's confirmed budget of 13.4735 trillion KRW, and plans to submit it to the National Assembly.

The Ministry significantly increased costs for flood control projects such as dams and rivers. By sector, 662.7 billion KRW was allocated for national river maintenance projects, 15.5 billion KRW for existing small dam construction, and 9.3 billion KRW for new dam construction.

The cost for sewer pipeline maintenance to prevent urban flooding increased by 111.3% (171.5 billion KRW) to 325.6 billion KRW, and the construction cost for retention facilities such as at Gangnam Station is 26.2 billion KRW. Included are 84.4 billion KRW for establishing an AI-based flood forecasting system and 25.4 billion KRW for building a dam-river digital twin platform. A new allocation of 250 billion KRW was made for river disaster recovery costs.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

It was announced that costs related to fostering and supporting the green industry will increase by 31.1%, from 519.1 billion KRW this year to 680.4 billion KRW next year. To achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, the number of companies eligible for greenhouse gas reduction equipment support will expand from 140 this year to 149, and support for international greenhouse gas reduction projects will increase by about 127% compared to this year, reaching 23.6 billion KRW.

Additionally, 734.4 billion KRW is included for building zero-emission vehicle charging infrastructure. The budget related to climate and air quality is 3.973 trillion KRW, which is 75.8 billion KRW less than this year. The Ministry of Environment’s budget and fund plan for next year will be submitted to the National Assembly on the 1st of next month and will be finalized after review and approval by the Assembly, expected next month.

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