Muan-gun Faces Controversy Over 'Comprehensive Negligence' in Village Hall New Construction Project

Construction differs from rebar design, foundation design differs by over 100mm

Supervising official: "We will handle all procedures and processes according to principles"

In Muan-gun, Jeollanam-do, attention is focused on allegations of overall poor construction and collusion with the contractor as two village halls are being newly built.

According to Muan-gun on the 30th, as part of the autonomous village development project, a budget of 730 million won has been allocated to construct village halls in Yeongchundong, Dalsan-ri, Mongtan-myeon, and Wonpyeongsan, with completion targeted for the end of November. Construction began in July.

However, it was confirmed at the work site that the rebar placement was carried out differently from the design, and some sections of the floor concrete were constructed about 50 mm short.

Rebar Installation for New Village Hall Construction
Photo by Oh Hwanju

Additionally, the foundations used by disabled people and the elderly were constructed with a difference of more than 100 mm compared to the design, raising concerns about safety negligence.

According to the Construction Technology Promotion Act, construction ordered by the state or local governments is prohibited on Sundays, but it was found that work proceeded without prior notice. More importantly, despite knowing that the site manager frequently left the site without valid reasons, the county supervisors seemingly neglected their duties.

After allegations of poor construction arose, Muan-gun requested the accounting department to halt construction on September 16 for the ‘Yeongchundong Village Autonomous Development’ project, citing residents’ consultation opinions, but lifted the suspension on the 8th of this month.

Although serious issues like those mentioned above were raised, the responsible department stopped construction citing residents’ consultation opinions, leading to various speculations.

In particular, after poor construction allegations surfaced, the contractor hurriedly subcontracted to another company, and immediately after the contract, the county imposed a fine of 250,000 won on the contractor’s site manager and sent a notice lifting the construction suspension, proceeding with the village hall construction, which has sparked suspicions of collusion with the contractor.

New Village Hall Construction: Concrete Pavement for Disabled Walkway
Photo by Oh Hwanju

A person named A, who operates a construction business in Muan, said, “It seems that the reasons for the important suspension were not clearly stated and were written differently so that the approvals from the person in charge, team leader, and manager could be obtained, which only fuels suspicion,” and questioned, “Isn’t this a case where the explanations from the company were accepted by the supervising officials without verification?”

He added, “Although the foundation was designed to be 400 mm, it was constructed at 350 mm, exceeding the margin of error, which is a serious defect, yet the response that there is no problem with bearing capacity or structure seems to have been accepted,” and “The claim that the site workers, site manager, and responsible officials did not participate in most of the work adds credibility.”

Regarding this, a contractor representative explained, “Since some sections were constructed at 450 mm, if calculated as an average, the construction was carried out according to the design.”

A Muan-gun official stated, “We will handle all procedures and processes according to the principles.”

Muan = Oh Hwan-ju, Honam Reporting Headquarters, Asia Economy just8440@asiae.co.kr

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