Gyeonggi Province's Disaster Management Fund 'Hibernating'

Gyeonggi Province has accumulated disaster management funds for recovery projects following various disasters, but it appears the province is failing to use them properly.

According to National Audit and Inspection materials submitted by Rep. Jung Jin-seok (National Assembly member representing Gongju and Yeongi districts in North Chungcheong Province) on the 13th, Gyeonggi Province's accumulated disaster management fund reached 128 billion won as of late June, but most of it has been deposited with financial institutions rather than being used promptly for recovery projects.

In fact, heavy rains in the Gyeonggi region that occurred in July caused 57.6 billion won in damages, requiring 150.6 billion won in total project costs for recovery, yet only 11.9 billion won of the fund was used.

Similarly, last year, the province suffered 9.8 billion won in flood damage requiring 22.6 billion won in recovery costs, but only 18.6 billion won of the fund was used. In 2004, flood damage worth 6.2 billion won necessitated 15.1 billion won in recovery costs, but only 5.99 billion won of the fund was used.

Current disaster management law mandates the accumulation of one hundredth of ordinary tax revenues collected over the past three years. Gyeonggi Province, which collects roughly 4 trillion won in ordinary taxes annually, has been accumulating around 40 billion won yearly into the fund.

Of the accumulated funds, 30% can be deposited with banks and other financial institutions, while the remaining 70% can be used for disaster preparedness projects such as river maintenance and reinforcement, emergency recovery of disaster-damaged facilities, and low-interest loans for disaster victims' relocation and housing rental costs. In Gyeonggi Province's case, approximately 28 billion won annually can be allocated to disaster recovery budgets.

Rep. Jung Jin-seok stated, "While Gyeonggi Province diligently accumulates the fund, it fails to use it properly, resulting in substantial budget waste," and urged, "The province must establish measures to appropriately utilize the fund."

In response, provincial officials explained, "Due to concentrated heavy rains in the northern Gyeonggi region in the late 1990s, we thoroughly implemented disaster prevention measures, which resulted in fewer floods. Additionally, since relevant cities and counties carried out recovery projects using their own funds, we did not need to use much of the provincial fund."