Deputy Governor Oh Hu-seok Clarifies Controversy Over Excluding Local Governments
"Doing Our Best to Reflect All City and County Proposed Projects"
Gyeonggi Province stated on the 27th that "the exclusion of the Gyeonggi Southern Metropolitan Railroad from the 5th National Railroad Network Construction Plan proposal is not true," and added, "All projects proposed by cities and counties were submitted to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT)."
Afternoon Seok, Deputy Governor for Administrative Affairs of Gyeonggi Province, is holding a press conference related to the 5th National Railroad Network Construction Plan. Provided by Gyeonggi Province
Oh Hu-seok, Deputy Governor for Administration of Gyeonggi Province, held a press conference at the provincial office on the same day and said, "To reflect the 5th National Railroad Network Construction Plan, all projects proposed by cities and counties were submitted to MOLIT in February this year for high-speed and general railroads according to the new project guidelines distributed by MOLIT in October last year, and in May, metropolitan railroad projects were also proposed to MOLIT."
Deputy Governor Oh explained, "In June, MOLIT requested the same three priority projects from 17 local governments nationwide, citing the reason of reviewing them comprehensively including local government opinions. While inevitably proposing three lines, we also requested that all projects proposed by Gyeonggi Province be actively reviewed and reflected."
He explained that when selecting the three projects, the criteria from the 4th National Railroad Network Construction Plan were considered, taking into account not only economic feasibility (B/C) but also balanced development of Gyeonggi Province.
The reason for not selecting the Gyeonggi Southern Metropolitan Railroad among the three projects was because it was judged that it could receive a positive evaluation due to its high economic feasibility (B/C), the submission of a letter of intent for the project by a private investor to MOLIT, and MOLIT’s promotion of expanding private investment railroad projects.
Deputy Governor Oh said, "In the 3rd National Railroad Network Construction Plan, 16 new projects from Gyeonggi Province (44.4% of the nationwide 36 projects) were reflected, and in the 4th plan, 21 new projects (47.7% of the nationwide 44 projects) were included. We will do our best to ensure inclusion in the 5th plan as well."
He added, "Currently, MOLIT is known to be prioritizing the 2nd phase GTX project, which amounts to 38.6 trillion won and is a presidential pledge, for review in the 5th National Railroad Network Construction Plan. If the request for prioritization was made to reduce the inclusion of other new projects in order to reflect the 2nd phase GTX project, it is a very concerning situation."
He also said, "In this situation, some basic local governments and media are causing unnecessary disputes with distorted claims such as whether only GTX Plus was reflected in the priority list, and demands like 'change the priority' and 'disclose economic feasibility (B/C).' Rather, to solve metropolitan transportation problems and expand eco-friendly green transportation means, we should jointly request MOLIT to significantly increase the budget scale for new projects in the 5th National Railroad Network Construction Plan."
Recently, Lee Sang-il, Mayor of Yongin, and Shin Sang-jin, Mayor of Seongnam, have opposed Gyeonggi Province, claiming that the Gyeonggi Southern Metropolitan Railroad project was excluded from the priority list in the 5th National Railroad Network Construction Plan.
Meanwhile, Gyeonggi Province has proposed the inclusion of 11 new high-speed and general railroad projects such as the KTX extension to Paju, and 40 new metropolitan railroad projects including three GTX Plus lines and the Gyeonggi Southern Metropolitan Railroad in the 5th National Railroad Network Construction Plan. The province has kept the three priority projects reported to MOLIT confidential.
MOLIT is currently conducting a study based on proposals received from 17 cities and provinces to establish the 5th National Railroad Network Construction Plan next year.
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
