Gwangju City Establishes Cooperative System with Related Agencies to Actively Respond to Urea Solution Shortage Crisis

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Yoon Jamin] On the afternoon of the 11th, Gwangju Metropolitan City held an emergency situation inspection and countermeasure meeting on the recent controversial 'urea solution shortage crisis,' presided over by Mayor Lee Yong-seop.

At the meeting, seven related departments including the Gwangju City Transportation and Construction Bureau and the Environment and Ecology Bureau, along with eight related organizations such as the National Police Agency and the Yeongsan River Basin Environmental Office, attended. They shared government measures in response to the urea solution shortage, checked the current situation by department and organization, and discussed difficulties and future countermeasures.

As a result of the meeting, city buses are expected to operate normally for the time being with no issues in urea solution supply until the end of the year, and in preparation for a prolonged shortage, it was decided to request the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport to add city buses as a priority supply target for urea solution.

Recently, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety decided to urgently supply 2,000 liters each to bus companies by province as soon as possible to resolve the shortage situation.

In the fire and emergency medical services sector, a six-month supply is stocked until the end of April next year, so vehicles are planned to operate normally.

For snow removal vehicles, the remaining amount of urea solution is sufficient, so there will be no issues until the first half of next year. For street cleaning vehicles, urgent support was recently requested from the Ministry of Environment to ensure no disruption in operation until the end of December, and they agreed to supply on a priority basis.

For private sector freight trucks, to resolve difficulties in supply due to the urea solution shortage, the city and associations will regularly inspect and manage the situation and actively cooperate with the government to request emergency supplies and implement necessary measures.

For construction machinery requiring urea solution, in consultation with related associations, an organic response system will be maintained with construction material companies that have stockpiled urea solution, and priority distribution support will be provided when necessary. Urgent construction sites will deploy construction vehicles that do not require urea solution.

In the agricultural sector, urea fertilizer is out of stock at sales outlets such as the NongHyup, and if the shortage prolongs, it is expected to disrupt farming during next year’s rice planting season. Therefore, the use of alternative fertilizers such as organic fertilizers will be actively encouraged, and farms will be prioritized for renting agricultural machinery that does not use urea solution.

In particular, for ambulances held by health centers and medical institutions, only the amount usable until the end of this year is stocked, so difficulties are expected from next year. Priority supply requests will be made to central government ministries such as the Ministry of Health and Welfare.

Additionally, for diesel vehicles owned by general citizens, the government is actively responding nationwide, and our city plans to closely monitor and respond to government support.

The Yeongsan River Basin Environmental Office is currently verifying the sales chain in order from distributors to gas stations and other sales outlets. Since shortages are occurring in consumer sales, they plan to intensively crack down on hoarding and speculative acts together with the city, police, and related organizations.

Mayor Lee Yong-seop stated, “To resolve the urea solution shortage situation early, we will closely cooperate with the government and promptly prepare response measures for parts that can be resolved locally. We will form an emergency countermeasure joint task force led by the Deputy Mayor, including Gwangju City and related local organizations, to establish a continuous cooperation system and prepare countermeasures until the urea solution shortage stabilizes, actively working to minimize inconvenience to citizens.”