Gwangju Seo-gu, Full Effort to Prevent Damage from Upcoming Summer Heavy Rainfall

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Yoon Jamin] Seo-gu, Gwangju Metropolitan City (Mayor Seo Daeseok) has rolled up its sleeves to prevent damage from heavy rains this coming summer.

On the 15th, Seo-gu announced that it will promptly carry out restoration and flood prevention projects for the riverside public sports facilities and the river area around the underground parking lot beneath Yangdong Covered Market, which suffered significant damage from last year's heavy rains.

Due to last year's heavy rains, nine sports fields including six soccer fields, two baseball fields, and one jokgu field, as well as auxiliary facilities such as portable toilets along the riverside public sports facilities, were damaged.

Also, the riverbed beneath the underground parking lot of Yangdong Covered Market was clogged with deposited sediment and debris, preventing rainwater inflow from draining properly, which nearly caused severe flooding damage.

The district plans to invest a total project cost of over 800 million KRW to restore these facilities and complete sediment dredging within the first half of the year.

So far, partial restoration was completed last year for five locations (four fields) including the Deokheung-dong baseball field (one field). Full restoration work is currently underway for two fields including the Deokheung-dong baseball field and one jokgu field.

For the Mareuk-dong soccer field and the portable toilets along the riverside, the district secured national funds and insurance money, and plans to allocate the budget next month to proceed with swift restoration.

The dredging project for 3,205㎥ of sediment around the underground parking lot of Yangdong Covered Market is also progressing rapidly.

This project, fully funded by 200 million KRW in national funds, has completed contractor selection and is scheduled to begin construction within a few days.

The dredging project is expected to facilitate smooth flow of rainwater into the river.

Seo Daeseok, Mayor of Seo-gu, said, “We will promptly and safely carry out disaster restoration of riverside public sports facilities and sediment dredging beneath Yangdong Covered Market,” adding, “We will do our best to support citizens' recreational sports activities and prevent flood damage.”