Gyeonggi Province Secures 203.4 Billion Won from Han River Watershed Management Fund for Next Year

The budget allocated to Gyeonggi Province from the Han River Watershed Management Fund for next year has been confirmed at 203.4 billion won, an increase of 38.3 billion won compared to the original proposal.

On the 27th, the Gyeonggi Provincial Government announced that the 99th Han River Watershed Management Committee, held on the 23rd, had finalized the "2027 Han River Watershed Management Fund Operation Plan," which totals 542.8 billion won in expenditures and includes this adjustment.

The additional 38.3 billion won will be distributed as follows: 4.7 billion won for general resident support projects, 28.9 billion won for environmental infrastructure operation, 2.2 billion won for ecological stream restoration, 1.5 billion won for total pollution load management, and 1 billion won for watershed protection area management programs.

The Han River Watershed Management Fund is a legally established fund designed to support residents whose property rights are restricted due to regulations in the upper Han River region. The fund is primarily financed by water utilization charges paid by residents in downstream areas (Seoul, Incheon, and 25 cities and counties in Gyeonggi Province). The main uses of the fund are resident support programs and support for environmental infrastructure such as sewage treatment plants and livestock manure treatment facilities.

The original fund management plan proposed by the Han River Basin Environmental Office included a roughly 17.4% reduction in support for the operating costs of sewage treatment facilities in local governments subject to water quality regulations, an expansion of the budget for certain national projects, and an increase of approximately 24% in reserve funds with the character of deposits. As a result, with the water usage charge frozen for two more years, local governments that have borne the burden of water quality regulation were at risk of facing significant cutbacks in financial support.

However, the original proposal was voted down at the Han River Watershed Management Committee on May 28 due to opposition from the four regions: Gyeonggi Province, Seoul, Gangwon Special Self-Governing Province, and North Chungcheong Province. Subsequently, on June 22 in Gwangju, Gyeonggi Province, the four regional governments held an "Emergency Countermeasure Meeting for Normalization of the Han River Watershed Management Fund" and jointly submitted a fund management adjustment proposal. The Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment accepted most of their suggestions, leading to the finalization of the current plan.

However, as the committee decided to maintain the water utilization charge at the current level of 170 won per ton for 2027-2028, it will remain frozen for the 18th consecutive year since 2011.

Gyeonggi Provincial Government

The Gyeonggi Provincial Government maintains that, due to rising labor and energy costs, there is a growing financial burden on local governments in water quality-regulated areas that operate public sewage treatment facilities, making it necessary to expand support from the Han River Watershed Management Fund.

Accordingly, Gyeonggi Province plans to propose an amendment to the "Han River Watershed Act," including provisions for reorganizing the composition of committee members to ensure that the opinions of local governments are properly reflected in the Han River Watershed Management Committee’s decision-making process. In addition, Gyeonggi Province aims to improve institutional practices so that the practical needs expressed on the ground by water quality-regulated regional governments are consistently reflected in fund operation, through inter-regional council activities.

Kim Sungwon, head of water quality policy at the Gyeonggi Provincial Government, said, "The confirmation of this fund management plan is significant not only because the budget was secured, but also because it reaffirmed the principle of supporting residents in regulated areas," adding, "We will continue to do our best to ensure that the watershed fund is operated according to its original purpose of improving drinking water quality and supporting local communities, based on a reasonable balance between central and local governments."

The Han River Watershed Management Committee is a government-local government consultative and coordination body established in 1999 to efficiently promote water quality improvement and resident support projects in the upper Han River region. Chaired by the Vice Minister of Climate, Energy and Environment, the committee is composed of a total of nine members: deputy province governors from five cities/provinces (Seoul, Incheon, Gyeonggi Province, Gangwon Province, and North Chungcheong Province) along the Han River watershed, the Director-General of Water Use Policy at the Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment, the President of Korea Water Resources Corporation, and the President of Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.