535 Billion Won Invested in 'Urban Eyesore' Power Line Maintenance... Priority Given to Markets and Old Housing

2021 Public Cable Maintenance Project Plan

[Asia Economy Reporter Cha Min-young] A total of 535.3 billion KRW will be invested this year in the maintenance of overhead power and communication lines scattered throughout the city. Priority will be given to traditional markets, areas densely populated with old houses, and residential-commercial areas.

The Ministry of Science and ICT announced on the 11th that it held the '31st Overhead Cable Maintenance Council' and finalized the '2021 Overhead Cable Maintenance Plan (draft).' Local governments, Korea Electric Power Corporation, and broadcasting and telecommunications operators plan to invest 283.9 billion KRW in overhead cable maintenance projects and 251.4 billion KRW in undergrounding projects.

The overhead maintenance project has been adjusted from the previous simple population-proportional allocation method to criteria based on the number of households and the number of old houses. The scope has been expanded from 21 local governments with populations over 500,000 to 27 local governments. The newly added local governments are Jeju-si, Gyeonggi Gwangju, Pyeongtaek-si, Hwaseong-si, Jinju-si, and Gumi-si.

After evaluating maintenance plans such as infrastructure maintenance support for local governments, undergrounding expansion plans, and publicity measures, the maintenance volume of areas rated 'low' was reallocated 30% to areas rated 'high' by dividing local governments into high, medium, and low categories.

In the case of undergrounding projects, KEPCO, broadcasting and telecommunications operators, and local governments share the costs and proceed with the projects according to local government demand. A national budget of 20 billion KRW linked to the Green New Deal will be invested to prioritize undergrounding in school zones for student safety.

Despite continuous maintenance efforts so far, many utility poles nationwide still require maintenance, necessitating various policies to improve maintenance efficiency. In particular, priority investment and maintenance will be made in areas posing citizen safety risks, traditional markets, and residential-commercial areas.

To this end, in addition to annual investment through the selection of maintenance areas, tasks such as ▲integrated removal of abandoned broadcasting and telecommunications cables after termination ▲institutionalization of new underground installation methods (mini-trenching) to revitalize undergrounding projects ▲post-inspection for disaster prevention in maintenance areas ▲and legal and institutional improvements to enhance maintenance project efficiency will be pursued.

Cho Kyung-sik, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Science and ICT and Chairman of the Overhead Cable Maintenance Council, said, “Overhead cables installed to provide power and broadcasting and telecommunications services will be maintained to prevent threats to citizen safety and improve urban aesthetics, with focused investment in traditional markets, areas densely populated with old houses, and residential-commercial areas.”