Issue Focus

​● The proportion of infrastructure aged for more than 30 years is increasing rapidly (more than 25% of 480,000 infrastructure, and more than 50% of reservoirs, rivers, and sewage).
​● Maintenance and performance improvement costs are expected to surge to 118.2 trillion won from 2026 to 2035, 300.3 trillion won from 2036 to 2045, and 52 trillion won in annual maintenance costs (60% of the country and 40% of local governments) by 2050.
​● The enactment of the Infrastructure Management Act established an integrated and long-term management system for old infrastructure, but all 17 metropolitan and provincial governments are not actually accumulating due to ambiguous accumulation standards, financial structure, and sanctions
​● Major countries that were industrialized before Korea also established a long-term fiscal investment frame that combines the size and cost of old infrastructure, investment priority adjustment, and revenue, funds, bonds, and private investment to cope with the rapidly increasing aging infrastructure.
​- United States: By investing large-scale funds for maintenance, repair, and improvement through the Highway Trust Fund (based on oil taxes), MAP-21, FAST Act, and IIJA, an investment system that combines federal, state, local, and private funds is established.
​- UK: Institutionalized the principle of "maintenance, repair, and renewal over new construction" and long- and short-term investment plans through institutional systems such as NIC, IPA, and NISTA, national infrastructure planning, and 10-year infrastructure strategies.
​- Japan: Preventive preservation, LCC management, PPP utilization, and longevity and reinforcement strategies are comprehensively promoted through the social capital improvement plan, infrastructure longevity and reinforcement basic law, etc.
​● The long-term repair allowance and disaster management fund, similar to the provision for performance improvement in preparation for the safety of facilities, has led to actual accumulation by legal minimum accumulation standards, specifying the purpose and procedure of use, and regulations based on non-compliance (or indirect regulation by audit and public opinion).
​- Long-term repair allowance: Since its introduction in 1978, it has achieved the accumulated balance of 6.1 trillion won in 2018 by increasing predictability by expanding the target, specifying planning standards, and imposing fines (less than 5 million won) and specifying repair cycles and repair rates.
​- Disaster Management Fund: 1% of local tax revenue was forced to the minimum accumulation amount, and about 1.9 trillion won was accumulated annually through special accounts and mandatory deposit structures, and the balance was maintained at 3.1 trillion won at the end of 2024.
​● The Infrastructure Management Act was introduced in 2020, but it is necessary to clarify the financial structure along with the connection of the disaster management fund and the introduction of the minimum accumulation standard to secure funds for performance improvement that have not been accumulated.
​- Since the collapse of infrastructure corresponds to social disasters, and the improvement of infrastructure performance coincides with the prevention, preparation, response, and recovery of disasters, it is necessary to use some of the remaining disaster management funds to improve the performance of old infrastructure by allowing them to be transferred to the performance improvement allowance.
​- It is necessary to respond to the demand for performance improvement of old infrastructure in the future by introducing the minimum accumulation standard, which accumulates 1% of construction costs as provisions for performance improvement every year.
​- Indirect discipline is needed by disclosing the status of accumulation and execution through the establishment of funds and special accounts and information disclosure.​