Daejeon City Council Criticizes Budget Carryover for Nightscape Project and Others

Rep. Kim Youngsam: "Despite Difficult Financial Conditions, Most of the Budget Was Carried Over"
Rep. Song Hwalseop: "Continuous Budget Carryovers Reduce Execution Efficiency...Detailed Review Needed"

Meeting scene of the Industrial Construction Committee of Daejeon City Council / Daejeon City Council

On the 28th, during the review of this year's second supplementary budget and next year's main budget by the Industrial Construction Committee of the Daejeon City Council, criticism was raised regarding the carryover of budgets.

Vice Chair Kim Youngsam (People Power Party, Seogu District 2) pointed out that 3.16 billion won, or 96% of the 3.285 billion won budget for the nighttime landscape project of six bridges including Suchimgyo, was carried over. Kim stated, "Since the rise in river water levels during summer is an annual occurrence, the project plan should have been established with this in mind," and added, "Despite the difficult fiscal situation, the project budget was allocated in this year's main budget, so carrying over most of the budget should be avoided in the future."

Assemblyman Song Hwalseop (Independent, Daedeok District 2) also criticized the full carryover of 7.482 billion won allocated in the supplementary budget for five projects, including the Robot Drone Support Center, the Chungcheong Autonomous Driving Commercialization Zone, the construction of the Urban Railway Line 1 Sikjangsan Station, the Munpyeong~Shintanjin road construction project, and the installation of underpass entry blocking facilities. Song emphasized, "If budgets continue to be carried over, it reduces execution efficiency and prevents the implementation of other urgent projects," stressing the need for systematic and detailed review from the budget planning stage.

There was also criticism regarding cases where budgets were allocated without sufficient demand surveys and then fully cut. Assemblywoman Park Juhwa (People Power Party, Jung District 1) pointed out that the entire 1.875 billion won budget for the Safe Sales Stand Installation Support Project in traditional markets was cut due to a lack of applicants. She stated, "In the future, projects should be promoted based on thorough demand surveys and collection of opinions to prevent the complete elimination of painstakingly allocated budgets."