Is gov`t budget request pork barrel?

There is suspicion that a number of major projects included in the budget requests for next year, which were submitted to the Ministry of Budget and Planning by various-level government agencies, are envisioned to favor the 2002 presidential election.

It is pointed out that the budget requests included many large-scale projects for regional communities, whose feasibility has yet to be determined. Among them are the formation of tourism-lodging complexes, the development of a tourism belt along the southern coasts, the comprehensive development of islands, and the electrification of the Cholla Railway.

In this connection, the opposition Grand National Party (GNP) has singled out 30 fiscal projects suspected of being related to the presidential election and 30 other ``problematic`` ones, and decided to take issue with these suspicious budget requests in the course of the deliberation of the spending programs at the pertinent National Assembly standing committees and the Special Committee on Budgets and Accounts.

Specifically, the opposition GNP viewed that the Government Administration-Home Affairs Ministry had requested 200 billion won in repair or maintenance projects for calamity-prone areas, a four-fold increase from the current year`s 50 billion won, must be pork barrel with the presidential vote in mind. The GNP questioned that the ministry-requested budget outlays are duplicated by disbursements for repairing flood-prone riverbeds, requested by the Construction-Transportation Ministry, contending that this could lead to wasting administrative energy and showed inconsistency in the implementation of the government fiscal programs.

The opposition party also raised skepticism about the Agriculture-Forestry Ministry`s requests for 350 billion won in projects for fostering 100,000 rice farming households, despite similar requests made by the Construction-Transportation Ministry for projects for improving housing environments.

In addition, the GNP charged that some requests were aimed to favor local communities and organizations for political gains. Among them, an outstanding example is the Agriculture-Forestry Ministry`s proposal for the government`s support of 12 billion won next year from the agriculture-fisheries restructuring special accounts, as part of the 771.8 billion won overall farming development program in the four districts along the Youngsan River. Another case is the Foreign Affairs-Trade Ministry`s budget program calling for the government disbursement of 2 billion won, which the labor sector should pay in order to support the ministry`s program to step up private labor diplomacy.

Sun Dae-In eodls@donga.com