38 Projects Including Yeosu-Namhae Undersea Tunnel Pass Preliminary Feasibility Study... 2nd Phase Projects Also Selected

The 5th Financial Project Evaluation Committee

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Son Sunhee] A total of 38 national and local highway projects, including the new undersea tunnel project between Yeosu and Namhae with a total project cost of 682.4 billion KRW and the Cheonan Seonggeo-Mokcheon bypass road (536.5 billion KRW), have passed the preliminary feasibility study (PFS). The government also selected 12 projects as the second round of PFS target projects, including the Pyeongtaek-Bubal single-track railway project, which will receive about 2 trillion KRW in national funding, the Saemangeum green hydrogen production cluster construction project, and the Busan Port North Port Phase 2 redevelopment project.

On the 24th, Ando-geol, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Economy and Finance, held the '5th Fiscal Project Evaluation Committee' and deliberated and approved the results of the batch PFS for candidate projects under the 5-year national and local highway construction plan and the selection of the second PFS target projects for this year.

The batch PFS for national and local highway construction plans is a procedure to select projects subject to the nationwide national highway, national trunk road, and local highway construction plans established every five years by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. Research institutions such as the Korea Development Institute (KDI) and the Korea Institute of Public Finance have conducted economic analyses on a total of 117 new road construction, expansion, and improvement projects since February last year. Subsequently, 14 subcommittees of the Fiscal Project Evaluation Committee, composed of private experts in roads, environment, and other fields, analyzed policy effects such as regional balanced development impact, employment, environment, and safety, and conducted evaluations. The results were combined for a comprehensive evaluation.

Among the total 117 projects included in the evaluation target, 38 projects scored 0.5 or higher in the comprehensive evaluation (AHP) and passed the PFS. The Ministry of Economy and Finance stated that projects with significant effects such as resolving habitual traffic congestion sections, connecting existing disconnected sections of national and local highways, and expanding the function of arterial roads connecting adjacent local governments were selected.

Separately from the comprehensive evaluation results, the necessity to promote road improvement projects for safety assurance was also recognized. Eighteen projects, including the Wanju Dongsang-Jinan Jucheon section (Route 55), Cheonan Bukmyeon-Ipjang section (Route 67), Jeongseon Imgae-Gangneung Wangsang section (Route 35), and Muju Seolcheon-Mupung section (Route 30), will proceed with road improvement projects due to poor road alignment or excessively narrow lane widths causing frequent safety accidents and high risk.

This batch PFS for national and local highways is the first conducted since the related system was reformed in April 2019. In non-metropolitan areas, the weighting for regional balanced development evaluation was increased, resulting in 36 of the 38 projects that passed the PFS being in non-metropolitan regions. In the metropolitan area, where the economic feasibility evaluation weighting increased, only two projects passed the PFS.

The projects that passed the PFS on this day are expected to be included in the '5th National and Local Highway Construction Plan,' to be announced next month, and will be promoted sequentially according to priority.

Vice Minister Ahn said, "Since the reform of the PFS system, the PFS pass rate for non-metropolitan projects has increased," explaining that "this is the result of the evaluation criteria reform reflecting the increased weighting of regional balanced development in non-metropolitan areas and the increased weighting of economic feasibility in metropolitan areas." He added, "In the future, even if economic feasibility is somewhat low, projects with high policy effects such as regional balanced development, employment, and improvement of living environment are expected to have a higher possibility of passing the PFS."

Along with this, the government selected 12 projects as the second round of PFS target projects this year. In the railway sector, six railway projects were selected: Pyeongtaek-Bubal single-track railway, Ulsan Urban Railway Line 2, and four light rail lines in Seoul?Gangbuk Transversal Line, Mokdong Line, Myeonmok Line, and Nangok Line.

Also included were five regional hydrogen cluster construction projects in Saemangeum (green hydrogen production), Incheon (bio and by-product hydrogen production), Donghae and Samcheok (hydrogen storage and transportation), Ulsan (hydrogen mobility), and Pohang (hydrogen fuel cell power generation), as well as the Busan North Port Phase 2 development project.