Gangbuk-gu Public Cable Maintenance: Public and Private Sectors Collaborate Together

Nation's First 'Public-Private Council for Overhead Cables' Formed... Establishing Cooperation System Among District, Residents, and Experts
Focused Discussions on Mutual Agreements to Promote Overhead Cable Maintenance Project

Gangbuk-gu, Seoul (Mayor Lee Soon-hee) formed the nation’s first Public Cable Public-Private Council last month and began organizing the tangled web of overhead cables together with residents and experts.

The newly established ‘Public Cable Public-Private Council’ was created to encourage active participation of residents in the annual overhead cable maintenance projects conducted by the district. The district enacted the nation’s first ordinance supporting overhead cable maintenance on November 3 last year and formed the council on February 29.

The council consists of a total of 15 members: 4 ex officio members including district officials and 11 appointed members. The appointed members include ▲Choi Mi-kyung, a Gangbuk-gu council member who spearheaded the ordinance on overhead cable maintenance support ▲four resident representatives from the Gangbuk-gu Community Leaders Association and Gangbuk-gu Residents’ Autonomy Committee ▲and six experts from the Korea Telecommunications Operators Association, Korea Electric Power Corporation Gangbuk-Seongbuk Branch, and telecommunications companies.

From now on, the council will handle roles such as receiving complaints and suggestions regarding the overhead cable maintenance project, collecting complaints by neighborhood, requesting maintenance from the Korea Telecommunications Operators Association, and cooperating and supporting necessary tasks for cable maintenance.

To this end, the district held the first regular meeting of the first half of 2024 on the 29th of last month, focusing on mutual discussions to ensure smooth progress of the overhead cable maintenance project. The meeting mainly discussed difficulties experienced by telecommunications operators and residents due to the maintenance project.

Telecommunications operators performing cable maintenance cited issues such as delays caused by complaints during parking or stopping of maintenance vehicles, inability to access buildings (rooftops) due to absence of residents, and failure to connect by phone when requesting visits to households. Residents pointed out that despite the completion of the overhead cable maintenance project, they do not perceive visible results due to unmaintained new or terminated lines or cables from other telecommunications companies.

The district plans to strengthen evaluations after completing this year’s overhead cable maintenance project and hold resident briefings to improve awareness and prevent project delays.

Meanwhile, Gangbuk-gu received the highest grade, ‘Sang’ (Excellent), in the local government evaluation for overhead cable maintenance conducted by the Ministry of Science and ICT this year, securing 2.9 billion KRW worth of cable maintenance volume. Based on this, the district will carry out overhead cable maintenance in five areas this year: two locations around Dobong Tax Office, the area around Ui Jeil Church, the vicinity of Hanshin University, and the area near Hyehwa Girls’ High School.

Additionally, following last year’s overhead line sharing project that consolidated overhead lines connected to 103 buildings around Mia-dong 190-2 (near Hyundai Apartment in Mia-dong), this year the project will be implemented for about 110 buildings around Beondong 415-15 (near Gangbuk Police Station).

Lee Soon-hee, Mayor of Gangbuk-gu, said, “We formed this nation’s first council to seek structural solutions and efficient directions for overhead cable maintenance. We will do our best to promptly organize the indiscriminately scattered overhead cables to improve the city’s aesthetics.”