Yang Hyang-ja "Naju SRF Operation Halt, Gwangju City Faces 430 Billion Won Loss Risk"

Korea District Heating Corporation-Naju City Win-Win Development Agreement... No Compensation Provisions

Gwangju City Closes Existing Sangmu Incineration Plant... 324 Billion Won for New Plant Construction

Assemblyman Yang: "Agreement Lacks

Concerns have been raised that the 430 billion KRW loss incurred by Gwangju Metropolitan City due to the suspension of operations at the Naju SRF (Solid Refuse Fuel) combined heat and power plant (hereafter Naju SRF) will become a sunk cost.

Yang Hyang-ja, a member of the National Assembly’s Industry, Trade, Energy, Small and Medium Enterprises Committee (Hope of Korea Party, Gwangju Seo-gu Eul), revealed on the 23rd that according to data received from the Korea District Heating Corporation, the “Hanan-Naju City Win-Win Development Agreement” signed on June 28 did not include any compensation measures for losses caused by the suspension of Naju SRF operations.

Naju SRF was unable to operate normally for five years after 2017 because residents opposed it due to environmental pollution emissions during trial operations and objections to the import of SRF from Gwangju, and Naju City did not grant business permits. During this period, the financial loss amounted to about 100 billion KRW (approximately 18.6 billion KRW annually).

After a legal battle, last June, Hanan won the final lawsuit against Naju City, which had rejected the business commencement notification, allowing Naju SRF to begin normal operations.

On June 28, Hanan and Naju City signed a “Win-Win Development Agreement” agreeing on ▲ disclosure of power plant operation information ▲ formation of a resident-participation environmental monitoring committee ▲ facility improvements to convert the Naju preprocessing facility into a non-molding facility ▲ and normal operation of the combined heat and power plant. However, compensation measures for losses by Hanan and Gwangju City were excluded.

Additionally, Naju City announced plans to negotiate the self-treatment of Gwangju City’s waste and to propose to central government agencies that Gwangju City and others pay cooperation fees for SRF imports.

The loss amount for Gwangju City reaches 429.7 billion KRW. In 2013, when Naju SRF agreed to use SRF fuel made from Gwangju City’s waste, Gwangju closed the Sangmu incineration plant in 2016.

However, because Naju SRF was not operational for five years, the landfill volume doubled, shortening the landfill’s lifespan by about 30 years.

Ultimately, unable to handle the increased waste volume, Gwangju City is planning to build a new incineration plant at a cost of 324 billion KRW.

During last year’s national audit, Assemblyman Yang raised issues with the Prime Minister’s Office’s coordination plan, which included ▲ operation of Naju SRF until 2032 ▲ fuel conversion of Naju SRF after 2032 ▲ construction of an incineration plant in Gwangju Metropolitan City and payment of cooperation fees to Naju City, urging the government to prepare compensation measures for losses. However, the situation has not changed even after a year.

Assemblyman Yang stated, “The long-standing conflict surrounding Naju SRF is being resolved. However, an agreement without compensation measures is like a steamed bun without filling,” and criticized, “There is no one taking responsibility for the tangible and intangible losses incurred by Gwangju City during the process of closing the existing incineration plant and building a new one due to government policy changes.”

He added, “The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and the Ministry of Environment, the relevant ministries, are once again watching from the sidelines,” and said, “Through this national audit, I will once again demand appropriate compensation measures for the enormous damage suffered by Gwangju City.”

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