Board of Audit and Inspection: "LH Did Not Verify Equipment Defects in Godeok Public Sewage Facility Despite 128 Billion KRW Investment"

Audit of Local Government Wastewater Treatment Facility Operations

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Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH) invested 128 billion KRW in the construction of the Godeok public sewage treatment facility, but the Board of Audit and Inspection pointed out that the sewage treatment facility cannot handle the originally intended capacity after the completion inspection.

On the 15th, the Board of Audit and Inspection released an audit report titled "Construction and Operation Status of Local Government Sewage Treatment Facilities," revealing that LH completed the Godeok sewage treatment facility without identifying major equipment defects.

According to the Board of Audit and Inspection, LH invested approximately 128 billion KRW to build the Godeok public sewage treatment facility, which was completed in July 2021.

However, a review of the comprehensive commissioning report showed that there were issues with the drum screen, but these were neglected during the completion process, resulting in damage to the membrane (approximately 10 billion KRW) and revealing that the sewage treatment facility cannot handle the originally intended capacity of 108,000 cubic meters per day.

Pyeongtaek City, which was scheduled to operate the sewage treatment facility together with LH, refused to take over the facility after the defects were revealed.

The Board of Audit and Inspection stated, "Currently, this facility is not only unable to operate normally but also cannot proceed with the handover to Pyeongtaek City," and notified LH to prepare a plan for the normal operation of the sewage treatment facility.

Additionally, the Board notified the Ministry of Environment to prepare measures to amend the regulations on "Selection and Performance Evaluation of Public Sewerage Management Contractors" so that simple management subcontractors can be selected through a qualification review process to reduce operating costs of public sewage treatment facilities.