Selection of 91 New Sites for the 2023 Vulnerable Area Living Condition Improvement Project

Maintenance of Vacant and Aged Houses, Slate Roof Improvement, and Water Supply and Sewerage Maintenance

The Presidential Committee on Balanced National Development announced on the 26th that it has selected 91 new project sites for the 2023 Vulnerable Area Living Conditions Improvement Project.

The 91 selected sites include 11 urban areas and 80 rural and fishing villages. By city and province, a total of 11 cities and provinces were included: Jeonnam with 24 sites, Gyeongnam 14 sites, Jeonbuk 13 sites, and Gyeongbuk 10 sites.

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For all the project sites selected this year, approximately 14 billion KRW will be provided starting this year, with a total national budget of about 136 billion KRW planned for the future (about 108 billion KRW for rural and fishing villages, about 28 billion KRW for urban areas).

The Vulnerable Area Living Conditions Improvement Project aims to improve living conditions closely related to residents’ daily lives, such as housing, safety, and sanitation, so that residents in vulnerable areas can be guaranteed a minimum quality of life. From 2015 to 2022, a total of 595 vulnerable areas have been selected and supported, including 449 rural and fishing village sites and 146 urban sites.

The main projects include housing maintenance such as slate roof improvement and renovation of old houses; safety facility maintenance such as fence and retaining wall repairs and expansion of fire roads; and expansion of living infrastructure such as improvement of traditional toilets and water supply and sewage systems. In addition, to revitalize local communities, human care programs such as elderly care and health management, as well as resident capacity-building projects, are supported.

The areas selected this year will carry out projects over the next 4 to 5 years (4 years for rural and fishing villages, 5 years for urban areas), with national budget support per site of about 3 billion KRW for urban areas (up to 7 billion KRW for rental housing construction to improve the residential environment of urban shantytowns) and about 1.5 billion KRW for rural and fishing village areas.

Project management including budget execution for the selected areas will be handled by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport for urban areas and the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs for rural and fishing village areas.

The Balanced Development Committee plans to provide customized consulting by region, centered on experts in related fields, to help local governments smoothly carry out the projects.

A representative of the Balanced Development Committee stated, "The government plans to continuously implement support policies to meet the basic quality of life for residents in vulnerable areas who have experienced inconvenience due to deteriorated housing environments and outdated living infrastructure, from the perspective of national balanced development."