Nakdong River Basin Resident Support Project, Improvement of Resident Satisfaction

230 Billion KRW Support Last Year... Purchase of Farming Equipment Including Tractors

The Nakdong River Basin Management Committee announced on the 16th that it supported 23 billion KRW for resident support projects in the Nakdong River Basin in 2023 and improved satisfaction by enhancing projects that residents can directly feel.

The resident support projects are funded by the Nakdong River Basin Fund, which is financed through water usage charges. Since 2003, these projects have provided subsidies to residents who suffer property disadvantages due to the designation of water source management areas (water source protection zones, waterfront zones) and to residents experiencing inconveniences living near dams.

Village Representative Meeting and Village Harmony Event.
[Image provided by Nakdong River Basin Environmental Office]

Until now, the resident support projects have largely included indirect support projects at the village level, such as new construction and renovation of village halls, road maintenance, and river maintenance, which had limitations in leading to direct resident satisfaction.

Since many of these indirect support projects have already been carried out as needed and can also be promoted with local government budgets, the Nakdong River Basin Management Committee has made efforts to expand projects that residents can directly experience.

To this end, they held 12 village representative meetings and 5 meetings with city and county officials to enhance residents' understanding of the resident support projects and to propose various possible projects.

As a result, cash direct support for individuals, which was originally implemented in only 8 cities and counties, was expanded to all 18 cities and counties where direct support projects are possible (one city will start in 2024). Additionally, direct support projects such as holiday gift distribution, village-level harmony events, and outings were first implemented in 4 cities and counties in 2023 and expanded to 17 cities and counties in 2024.

Besides this, the Nakdong River Basin Management Committee is conducting a pilot project this year to introduce village-level lunch provision projects and plans to continue discovering projects that provide direct benefits to residents, such as installing solar panels per household.

Chairman Choi Jong-won stated, “We will continue to promote resident support projects that residents can actively participate in and be satisfied with through active communication with residents and local governments.”

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