The reason why the Seoul-Yangpyeong Expressway project was canceled was because the end point was changed to the route where the land of the first lady Kim Kun-hee’s family was located, raising suspicions of preferential treatment.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport explained that there are many cases in which the start and end points are different during the feasibility study.
This is reporter Yoon Hae-ri’s report.
[Reporter]
This is a list of projects that have changed the start and end points of expressways during the feasibility assessment process disclosed by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.
He explained that it is not unusual for the start and end points to change after the preliminary feasibility study, even if only five of the 10 projects promoted since 2010 have changed.
Rather, he emphasized that the preliminary feasibility proposal is rarely promoted as it is.
YTN examined how the routes of projects promoted over the past five years have actually changed.
First, this is the Incheon Gyeyang-Ganghwa Expressway Strategic Environmental Impact Assessment Report that passed the preliminary feasibility study in August 2020.
The starting point was the same, and the ending point was changed from Gapgot-ri, Ganghwa-eup, Ganghwa-gun to Sinjeong-ri, Seonwon-myeon.
In this process, the length of the route was rather reduced by 1.6km, and the overall flow did not change significantly.
The cases of the new Busan New Port-Gimhae토토사이트 Expressway and Sejong-Cheongju Expressway construction projects, which were exempted from the preliminary feasibility study, but whose routes were adjusted during the feasibility evaluation process, are similar.
The route from Busan New Port to Gimhae Expressway, starting from Songjeong-dong, Gangseo-gu, Busan, to Hwalcheon-dong, Gimhae-si, Gyeongsangnam-do, was the same.
However, the total length was shortened by 0.7km as the terminal was connected to the Namhae Expressway.
The Sejong-Cheongju Expressway, which is scheduled to start construction within this year at the earliest, has the same overall framework, only the route has been increased by 0.2 km to go around the village.
However, this Yangpyeong-Seoul Expressway was different.
The administrative district where the terminal is located was changed from Yangseo-myeon to Gangsang-myeon, and more than half of all routes as well as route extensions were changed.
In addition, 11 more bridges and 3 more tunnels to be installed were added in this process.
This is the reason why it is pointed out that a separate preliminary feasibility study was needed, seeing as a completely new route.
[Kang Kyung-kyu / Professor Emeritus, Department of Transportation and Logistics Engineering, Hanyang University: Now, anyone can see that it has exceeded the margin of error. The preliminary feasibility study has 200 to 300 pages, but even if it doesn’t go that far, at least it’s comparable and comparable… .]
In this regard, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport does not even disclose the full draft of the environmental impact assessment report containing the analysis results for the changed end point.