200 billion won a year to slash unimproved river completion timeline from 108 years to under 50
South Chungcheong Province is stepping up efforts to improve unimproved local rivers as part of its disaster prevention response to climate change.
The provincial government announced Wednesday it plans to expand its annual local river improvement budget to around 200 billion won ($147 million), prioritizing waterways at the highest flood risk to cut the total project timeline from 108 years to within 50 years.
With climate change driving more frequent torrential rains and extreme precipitation events, the province said it is scaling up investment in river improvement to strengthen disaster prevention and protect residents' lives and property.
The current annual budget for local river improvement stands at around 110 billion won. At that level, officials estimate it would take 108 years to complete work on all unimproved waterways.
In response, the province plans to invest a total of 11.9 trillion won to progressively improve 394 rivers across 485 districts spanning 1,280.86 kilometers — covering all local rivers in the province except the 97 of 491 that have already been improved.
As a first step, the province will launch new projects this month at seven priority districts identified in its comprehensive improvement plan, including Yeokcheon and Sodeulcheon in Dangjin, Masancheon in Nonsan, Wangpocheon in Buyeo, Ingwadalcheon in Cheongyang, Galhyeoncheon in Seosan and Gisacheon in Geumsan, with a combined project cost of 218.6 billion won.
Going forward, the province plans to launch new projects worth around 200 billion won every year and identify additional projects through open calls to cities and counties to accelerate the overall pace of improvement.
"We plan to expand the river improvement budget, address the highest-priority areas first, and dramatically shorten the project timeline," said Shin Dong-heon, director of disaster and safety at South Chungcheong Province. "We will also actively identify additional projects through open calls to cities and counties, completing all 485 districts within 50 years and preventing flood damage."
kwonhl@heraldcorp.com
