ASEM street preparations anger commuters

In a bid to prepare for the Asia-Europe Meeting(ASEM), the various construction and re-striping projects on the roads and streets of Seoul have created traffic jams, causing great discomfort and inconvenience to the people of Seoul. A majority of Seoulites have expressed anger at the unnecessary suffering levied on them in the name of accommodating the international circle of leaders.

Around midnight Oct. 9, the repaving construction work along Taepyong Street caused the whole area to be covered with dust and noise, as the heavy equipment hammered away to remove the old pavement. Also, the closure of two of the six lanes caused long stretches of traffic through the night.

Since about two months ago, the city of Seoul has embarked on about 20 simultaneous construction works in the inner city for the re-striping of about 50 or so kilometers of Seoul's streets. As a result, a countless number of Seoulites have been inconvenienced due to the traffic tie-ups and noise, at a cost of about 10 billion won.

Such a bustle in construction work is the result of expediting the original schedule for the end of the year to a new timeline prior to the ASEM. Among the construction works, there are some that are considered unnecessary and have led to voices of criticism that the city of Seoul is wasting a lot of public funds as it makes much ado about the ASEM.

Taxi driver Chang Won-Il, 45, criticized the short-sightedness of city leaders.

"Many of the areas under construction really did not pose much problem to drivers," he said. "The news of the ASEM being held in Seoul did not come about two months ago. It is difficult to understand why the city of Seoul is making all the ruckus now."

A construction worker at one of the sites spoke on condition of anonymity.

"The condition of the street here was really good for another two or three years and could have waited until then," he said.

Furthermore, some areas where the construction has been completed have not yet been striped. As a result, they pose a risk of traffic accidents. In areas with especially greater intersections of streets such as Namdaemun, Kwangwhamun, Suhsomun, Eul-ji Ro and Mukyo area, the lack of street and stripes have caused worse traffic tie-ups.

"Normally, ten days prior to the start of construction work, it is customary to post the schedule of the completion of the work as well as the drawing of lines and stripes,¡± according to a source at the Seoul Police Agency in charge of street surfacing and striping. ¡°However, in the current situation, the barrage of projects has made it quite difficult for us to handle all the planning for the painting of the lanes and dividers."

A source at the Office of Construction and Facilities Management said: "The current construction works on the roads in Seoul have nothing to with the ASEM but are regularly scheduled annual road repair works. And, as the painting of the lanes and dividers takes place three days after the end of the construction work, the period of non-lined segments on the road is unavoidable."

As the calls of complaints have begun to flood the agency related to the road works, those in charge of answering the phone have abandoned their desks and ignored the incoming calls. As such, the voices of anger and complaint have only risen to a new level.

Park Jung-Hoon sunshade@donga.com