The government set next year's social overhead capital (SOC) budget under the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) at 21.1 trillion won, the same as this year. The ministry's overall budget rose 9.9%, but the SOC budget was frozen as projects with delayed execution and customary allocations were adjusted. The budget for the Gadeokdo New Airport, where site development work has been delayed, was cut 37% from this year.
According to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) on the 1st, the 2027 budget proposal for the ministry is 69 trillion won, up 9.9% from this year's main budget of 62.8 trillion won. Of that, the SOC budget for roads, railways and airports was set at 21.1 trillion won, the same as this year.
In the airport sector, 431.1 billion won was reflected for construction of the Gadeokdo New Airport. That is 257.8 billion won, or 37.4%, less than this year's main budget of 688.9 billion won. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) said it set the budget around the amount that can actually be executed, reflecting repeated failures of the site development work tender and delays in signing the main contract.
Among the budget not executed this year, amounts that can be carried over will be executed together with next year's budget after going through related procedures. The specific carryover amount will be finalized after this year's settlement of account.
Separate from the budget cut, the Gadeokdo New Airport also faces rising construction costs. Simply reflecting increases in raw materials and fuel costs since the bid notice, the additional cost is estimated to exceed 620 billion won. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) asked the Ministry of Government Legislation to interpret the enforcement decree of the National Contract Act on whether price increases that occurred before the main contract is signed can be reflected in the contract amount.
An official at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) said, "We are consulting with relevant ministries on whether to reflect not natural price increases, but sharp cost increases that the contractor could not have anticipated."
The Saemangeum New Airport was allocated 120 billion won, the same as this year. However, with the appellate ruling on the lawsuit to cancel the master plan for the Saemangeum International Airport development project set for Oct. 14, whether it will actually be executed is expected to be affected by judicial proceedings.
For the Ulleung Airport construction, 113.7 billion won was reflected, and for the civil aviation construction of the Daegu-Gyeongbuk integrated new airport, 20.2 billion won for compensation and design costs was reflected.
In the railway sector, 366.2 billion won was allocated to the GTX-B line, the largest among railway projects. The privately funded section of GTX-B began main construction in Aug. last year, and as of June the progress rate was 8.1%. For GTX-C, which aims to break ground within the year, 71.6 billion won was reflected, and for GTX-A, which has partially opened, 14 billion won was reflected.
For the Gangneung–Jejin Donghae Northern Line, where construction is underway with completion targeted for next year, 445 billion won was allocated. The line runs from Gangneung to Jejin Station in Goseong County, Gangwon, the northeastern border area.
For the Wolgot–Pangyo double-track railway, 215 billion won was reflected, and for the Southern Inland Railway, 200.6 billion won was reflected. The budget for constructing the Gwangju Songjeong–Mokpo Honam high-speed railway is 141.3 billion won.
In the road sector, the budget was set with a goal of starting two projects and completing 24 projects next year. For the Yeosu Hwaya–Baekya national road construction, 111 billion won was reflected; for the Sejong–Anseong expressway, 19.8 billion won; and for the Yangju Jangheung–Gwangjeok local road construction, 14.7 billion won.
An official at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) said, "We carried out an expenditure restructuring of about 9.6 trillion won focused on customary budgets and projects with poor execution," adding, "We allocated budgets to necessary projects in line with project progress and the actual scale of execution."