Muan-gun Reveals the True Face of Inadequate Traffic Administration

Muan Namaek New Town Area Suffering from Illegal Parking and Stopping
Surveillance Cameras Left Broken and Unattended for Months

Fixed illegal parking enforcement camera installed at Namak Post Office Intersection

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Seo Young-seo] The Namak New Town area in Muan-gun, Jeollanam-do, has been suffering from illegal parking and stopping, and it has been revealed that several parking enforcement cameras have not been operational for years.

Namak New Town, where major government offices such as the Jeollanam-do Provincial Office are concentrated, is lined with large buildings, but parking spaces are limited, causing severe traffic congestion due to constant parking shortages and roadside parking.

From 2017 to last year, over 15,000 illegal parking violations were recorded in the Namak New Town area, accounting for more than 90% of all enforcement cases in Muan-gun.

Moreover, it was found that many fixed enforcement cameras used to monitor illegally parked vehicles were left broken and unattended, suggesting that if they had been functioning properly, many more violations would have been caught.

According to data released by Muan-gun, from 2014 to 2018, a total budget of over 440 million KRW was spent to install unmanned illegal parking enforcement cameras at 17 locations within the jurisdiction.

However, in Namak New Town alone, six fixed cameras at Shinhan Bank Intersection, Namak Post Office Intersection, Oryong Humansia, Jeonnam Specialized Construction Hall, and Edgar 5th Complex stopped working between 2018 and last year.

In particular, it was found that Muan-gun was aware that these enforcement cameras were not functioning but continued to neglect them.

Additionally, the explanation that the cause of the malfunction of cameras installed only 3 to 4 years ago was ‘aging’ lacks credibility.

A Muan-gun official stated, “The warranty period for the camera installation company expired after two years, so maintenance budgets should have been allocated since 2018, but this was not done. Instead of spending about 22 million KRW annually on maintenance, it seems more cost-effective to replace the broken cameras. Therefore, the broken fixed illegal parking enforcement cameras will be replaced by April.”