Red Tape Delayed Simple Work for 5 Years

Swift Displacement of Power Polls

A dozen of KEPCO employees arrived at the Mipo intersection in the Daebul Industrial Complex at around 9 a.m. yesterday.

They were there to move a 16-meter-tall power pole on the side of Daehan Ceramics about 3 meters away from the road to the stream.

When it’s rainy, due to the high risk of electric shock, power workers do not conduct this type of work. However, after President-elect Lee Myung-bak pointed out the pole as the typical example of red tape hindering business advance and with the growing public attention, the KEPCO decided to accelerate the work.

After making sure that the replacement work did not cut off power to nearby plants, the KEPCO workers cut off the power cables connected to the pole.

Mobilizing heavy machinery like cranes, they finished up the displacement of the pole in five hours. The pole was originally located on the bottleneck point where the 8-lane road becomes 6-lane one.

Trailers carrying huge ship-building materials used to do stunt around the power pole, evading road signs and swerving side to side. Sometimes, they had to run on the opposite side of the road.

Wie Chang-ryang, 50, the local KEPKO senior staff member in charge of the operation, explained, “All traffic to and from the 40 block manufacturers in the [Daebul Industrial] Complex has to pass through this [Mipo] intersection to transport completed ship-building blocks to Port Daebul. That’s why we sped things up.”

A senior KEPCO headquarters officer added, “Resident companies in the complex have complained a lot. On top of that, the government was paying higher attention. That’s why we ventured out in the rainy day.”

Yoo In-suk, 45, CEO of a ship-building block manufacturer, argued, however, “Displacement of one or two poles is a make-shift solution. We can only get our best answer when the authorities remove all the poles and road lamps on the 1 kilometer section leading to the [Daebul] port.” She had first raised the issue with then presidential hopeful Lee Myung-bak in 2006.

An officer in charge of the complex management promised to solve the problem in the near future, saying, “We have to talk with the local governments to move the lamps."

Belated Rush for Better Public Services

Another KEPCO official visited the resident companies in the complex to survey the problems facing them, and examined other poles to be removed from the current spots. Local government officials also reported to work to discuss the matter.

On Saturday, the special inspectors from the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy held a town hall meeting at the complex management office to hear from the representatives of the resident corporations. They poured out their pent-up complaints.

“The central divider blocks traffic. Our drivers have to drive, in many cases, on the opposite side to carry the blocks. Turning around the curve, the trees along the street get stuck in the blocks, and we have to wash them again. But when it happens, the county government fines us for the damage to the trees. We can’t take it any more.” (Yoo In-suk)

“We filed a request with the KEPCO to remove the power poles in front of our plant. We were told it would take three months. The company has allegedly buried a significant portion of the power cables under the ground. But we don’t see any.” (Kim Eun-su, CEO of Samyuk Steel Construction)

A KEPCO representative on hand answered, “The rule has it that someone who wishes to remove a pole or a street lamp in front of a factory has to bear the cost. Thus, the complaining companies have to pay for the cost. In addition, it takes some time to obtain an approval from the KEPCO headquarters and relevant materials. But we will streamline and speed up the procedure in the future as much as possible.”

At the conference, voices were heard for the need to overhaul the entire infrastructure in and around the complex, including expanding the road width, relocating trees and lamps along the road and removing the central divider.

A transportation company representative pointed out the need to renovate the entire complex, saying there is too little space in the Daebul port for block storage.

Yeongam County, in chare of maintenance of the facilities of the complex, has come up with a plan to renovate the infrastructure of the complex, which would cost 200 billion won, or approximately $20 million. The county government plans to focus on the reinforcement of roads and bridges.

Deputy County Governor Seo Jong-bae stressed, “Actually, the complex was not intended for ship-building manufacturers. Thus, it is necessary to equip the port with facilities to support the smooth transportation of ship-building blocks. We have to think about ways to boost the competitive edge of the complex as center of the ship-building industrial cluster.”

A commerce ministry official said, “It’s hard to accommodate all the wishes voiced at the meeting. We will, however, do our best to organize the requests and report the streamlined ones to the [presidential] transition committee.”

shjung@donga.com