Aging Reservoir Safety Critical... 25% of National Infrastructure Over 30 Years Old

Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Announces Results of 'Infrastructure Census'

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It was found that 25% of the approximately 380,000 infrastructure facilities in South Korea are aging facilities that have been in use for over 30 years. There are about 17,000 reservoirs nationwide, of which 96.5% are aging facilities over 30 years old. In particular, reservoirs accounted for nearly half of the facilities rated at the lowest safety grade, Grade E.

On the 30th, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced the results of the "Infrastructure Census" conducted over three years from 2020 to last year. This survey was conducted to prevent rapid aging and manage 15 types of basic infrastructure, including roads, railways, ports, airports, water supply, electricity, and gas.

The Ministry investigated 383,281 facilities out of a total of 478,299, excluding equipment whose completion dates could not be confirmed and small-scale facilities.

Infrastructure facilities over 20 years old accounted for 51.2% (196,325 units) of the total. Facilities over 30 years old accounted for 25.2% (96,753 units). Above all, 96.5% (16,708 units) of reservoirs were aging facilities over 30 years old. Communication equipment at 64.4% (130 units) and dams at 44.9% (62 units) also exceeded 30 years.

Among facilities assigned safety grades under the Facility Safety Act, 99.2% (93,007 units) were rated A to C, indicating normal or better conditions. Grade A (Excellent) was the most common with 47,197 units (50.3%). Grade B (Good) accounted for 35,453 units (37.8%), and Grade C (Normal) was 10,357 units (11.1%).

Facilities with safety concerns included 694 units (0.7%) rated Grade D (Insufficient) and 69 units (0.1%) rated Grade E (Poor). Among Grade D facilities requiring urgent repairs due to defects in major components, reservoirs (509 units) accounted for 73.3%, the highest proportion.

Grade E indicates facilities with serious defects in major components, posing safety risks that require immediate prohibition of use and reinforcement or reconstruction. About half of the Grade E facilities were reservoirs (35 units, 50.7%). Other Grade E facilities included 20 river facilities (29%), 12 roads, 1 port, and 1 fishing port.

The Ministry stated, "We will notify management and supervisory agencies and facility managers to ensure repairs, reinforcements, and performance improvements of Grade D and E facilities, and verify the results through on-site inspections." This means that as of the end of 2022, facilities rated D and E will be notified to their managers.

A Ministry official said, "Once the computerized system that collects infrastructure status information opens around the end of March this year, it will be possible to more quickly identify whether actions such as repairs and reinforcements based on safety grades have been taken."

Information on infrastructure status, aging, and safety grades can be checked in the "Infrastructure Management System." The government invested 7.546 billion KRW in this infrastructure census. The Korea Infrastructure Safety Corporation conducted the survey.

Through this census, the government will consolidate infrastructure information, which had been sporadically managed by 1,350 entities including central ministries, local governments, and public institutions, into one database to establish a status overview, maintenance management system, and database.

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