[2020 National Audit] "Public Institutions Buy Expensive Drones, Use Once When Broken, Then Neglect"

All Agencies under the Ministry of Environment Spend 1.5 Billion Won on Drone Purchases
National Park Service Uses 700 Million Won Budget for Drone Purchases
Neglected for Years Due to Malfunctions...Low Usage Performance

Reference photo [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bo-kyung] It has been revealed that expensive drones (unmanned aerial vehicles) deployed to improve work efficiency are being neglected due to malfunctions or used only once every three to four months, indicating problems in their utilization.

According to data submitted by the Ministry of Environment on the 23rd to Song Ok-ju, chairman of the National Assembly Environment and Labor Committee and member of the Democratic Party of Korea, the total number of drones owned by all affiliated organizations under the Ministry of Environment is 257, with the cost of purchasing these drones amounting to 1.46225 billion KRW.

Among the institutions, the Korea National Park Service owns the most drones with 128 units, spending 710 million KRW on drone purchases.

The problem lies in the low utilization rate of the drones. The Korea National Park Service acquired an S1000 Plus drone in 2014 at a cost of 15.57 million KRW, but after using it once, it was not used again for six years due to malfunctions.

The Inspire 1 drone purchased in 2015 for 6 million KRW was used only 15 times over five years, and the WING-F drone bought in 2018 for 21.34 million KRW was used only nine times. Two drones purchased at the end of 2019 were used only two to three times until August of this year.

The Korea Water Resources Corporation was not much different. Of the total 38 drones owned, 11 were used only once a month, and six were used once per quarter, resulting in less than once a month usage.

In particular, the Zeon X-8 drone purchased in 2016 for 40.42 million KRW has been left unused since it broke down in 2018.

The National Institute of Ecology also showed poor usage performance, with about 10 drones purchased between 2014 and 2015 being used only three to four times annually, and the Korea Environment Corporation confirmed that a drone purchased in 2017 for 2.1 million KRW traveled only 5 km over three years.

Chairman Song Ok-ju pointed out, "On average, dozens of drones costing hundreds of thousands to several million KRW are not being used to their full value," adding, "Each institution must devise measures to ensure that expensive drones purchased with significant budgets are efficiently utilized at the right time and place."