Disaster recovery projects in Gyeonggi Province regions hit hard by last year's torrential rains, including Gapyeong and Pocheon, are progressing on track overall and have entered their final stages.
As of the end of June this year, Gapyeong County completed 323 of 329 total sites, recording a recovery rate of 98.2%, according to Gyeonggi Province on Monday. Pocheon City completed 180 of 181 sites for a recovery rate of 99.4%. These figures are higher than the 90.0% recorded in the same period last year and 85.3% two years ago.
Disaster recovery projects are divided into "functional restoration projects," which restore facilities to their original state, and "improvement recovery projects," which include structural upgrades to prevent recurring damage. The province activated an administrative fast-track to speed up recovery. It reduced the 30-day legal deadline for prior review to an average of 13 days, and shortened the contract review period from 10 days to an average of five days to support orders placed by cities and counties.
However, large-scale improvement recovery projects require sufficient construction time, unlike simple restoration to original conditions. This is because securing structural safety, such as reinforcing water-impact zones prone to damage from flow volume and velocity, is the core priority. Accordingly, the province designated six improvement recovery sites in Gapyeong and the Wangsukcheon project site in Pocheon—where completion before the rainy season is difficult—as priority management targets.
Pocheon City suffered 20.4 billion won in property damage last year from record rainfall of 104mm per hour. Some projects failed to secure sufficient construction time due to delays in prior review procedures, leading to public anxiety. Using this as an opportunity, the province plans to strengthen preliminary consulting to advance large-scale projects earlier and to provide administrative guidance to Pocheon City and Gapyeong County.
Structural and non-structural measures are also being carried out in parallel in priority management areas. The province completed the repair of nine vulnerable sections, the full replacement of 6,671 ton bags, and river dredging. It also established real-time monitoring using approximately 198,000 CCTVs through the Smart Video Center, rapid dissemination through social media and warning facilities, the operation of 16 shelters, and a joint response system involving 223 personnel from the public, private, police, and fire sectors.
Gyeonggi Governor Choo Mi-ae said, "The top priority value of disaster recovery projects is protecting the lives and safety of residents." She added, "We will closely manage the remaining seven priority sites in Gapyeong and Pocheon and do our utmost to ensure not a single casualty occurs this summer."
