Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Byun Chang-heum, who accompanied President Moon Jae-in on the 25th to tour the planned site of the new airport on Gadeok Island, told the president “I regret” over the recent controversy against the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport. In addition, he explained, “The issue raised by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport is to explain the necessity of a preliminary feasibility study among the contents of the new airport special bill of Gadeok Island.”
However, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport’s review reports obtained by Maeil Economic Daily are merely to explain the necessity of a preliminary investigation, and there are serious concerns of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport over the increase in safety and cost. This is because Gadeok, which is built on soft ground, also contains the risk of severe subsidence of buildings installed on similar grounds in Korea, as a warning of the danger of a new airport.
According to the report, the Myeongji New Town in Busan, which has entered the coastal landfill site, is also experiencing severe ground subsidence, such as a 1m crack in the road and a 7cm crack in the sidewalk and 8cm sinking. This is a soft ground that used to be a tidal flat. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said, “It was found that it was designed to make the soft ground embedding work more than three times faster than the standard value,” he wrote, saying, “It is necessary to secure safety through ground reinforcement.” The new airport on Gadeokdo Island also requires enormous embankment work in consideration of the sea level and the soft ground underneath it.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport pointed out that as the subsidence of the artificial islands in Masan Marine New Town, which was created by reclaiming Masan Bay with dredged soil by Changwon City, continues to progress, the period for improvement of soft ground is prolonged and additional project costs are rising like a snowball.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport explained that the 4th lane of Route 30, which runs from Gimje-si to Buan-eup, to Gyeokpo-ri, also caused a large number of unequal subsidence, causing frequent safety accidents by drivers. Differential settlement refers to a phenomenon in which the ground is not evenly settled and the structure collapses. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport stated in the document “(Like Gadeokdo New Airport), the section is a soft ground, such as passing through an area that used to be the sea in the past,” and “the existing pavement and the bridge or underground passage box connection do not sink evenly, and the height is due to the structure or the foundation load. “There was a phenomenon in which they settled differently,” he warned. It is interpreted as an intention to empower the concern that there is a high likelihood that differential subsidence will occur due to the land reclamation of both seas in the area corresponding to the’waist’ of Gadeokdo New Airport.
In this way, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and other related ministries expressed strong disagreement with respect to the new airport in Gadeok Island in the process of initiating a special law because there was widespread atmosphere that they could go to jail after the’Wolseong nuclear power plant economic evaluation manipulation’ incident.
The current state finance law mandates conducting a preliminary feasibility study for not only SOC projects but also welfare and income transfer projects if the medium-term expenditure is 50 billion won or more. In the event that a problem arises after the regime change, a kind of’preferential’ is given so that the construction can be started immediately, and a huge cost of 7 to 28 trillion won is expected. This is because criminal responsibility is inevitable.
An official from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said, “It is a plan to cancel the existing plan and exempt it from preliminary errors. If the law is passed, public officials will be exempted based on the law. Isn’t that obvious?” he asked. It seems to mean that at least until the law is passed, it is necessary to raise grounds for immunity by raising issues as much as possible and to prepare a hole for exit.
In this situation, however, some ministries have a strong drive from the president and the ruling party, as well as the atmosphere of changing routes as the special law is imminent. Kim Yong-beom, the first vice minister of the Ministry of Strategy and Finance, held a meeting of the Innovation Growth Strategy Review Meeting, Policy Review Meeting, and the Korean Version New Deal Review Task Force (TF) meeting, saying, “Supporting financial incentives for local projects that meet the standards of the suitability of the regional balance New Deal and have a high ripple effect. It is scheduled”.
[이지용 기자 / 양연호 기자]
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