Extra budget bill to encourage scrapping 200,000 additional old diesel cars

Apr 19, 2019, 09:26 am

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Government and ruling party officials, including ruling party floor leader Hong young-pyo and finance minister Hong Nam-ki, hold each other’s hands in a meeting to discuss an extra budget at the National Assembly on April 18, 2019./ Photographed by Lee Byung-hwa

By AsiaToday reporter Lim Yoo-jin

The ruling Democratic Party and the government decided to submit an extra budget bill focused on supporting for the recent wildfires in Gangwon Province and boosting the national economy to the National Assembly on April 25 in order to get the bill passed in May.

The ruling party and the government reached agreement on the major projects of the extra budget bill in a meeting between the two sides on Thursday, according to Cho Jeong-sik, chief policymaker of the ruling party.

The party and the government decided to additionally create 20,000 jobs for the Hope-Work Project in order to provide jobs to the disadvantage class as well as the victims in the five special disaster zones including fire-hit Goseong. Measures for forest restoration and equipment reinforcement as well as plans to expand special fire force will be included in the extra budget bill.

Supportive measures for Pohang earthquake recovery and policy funds to strengthen safety management of geothermal power generation sites and to support SMEs as well as small business owners will be included. The bill also includes budget related to the people’s livelihood, such as local community employment and installation of parking lots for traditional markets, and social overhead capital (SOC) projects.

In order to reduce fine dust particles, the number of old diesel cars that are going to be scrapped early will be increased by 200,000 more than initially planned. The government plans to support small workplaces by installing anti-dust facilities and smokestack tele-monitoring system (TMS).

“We will dramatically expand support for major fine-dust reduction projects,” Cho said. “In order to minimize the burden on the private sector to implement regulations, we will significantly weaken the burden ratio of the private sector.”

Anti-dust masks will be provided to more than 2.5 million low-income group and small business owners. The number of projects related to the people’s health, including the installation of air purifiers in social welfare facilities and subways will be increased significantly in the extra budget bill.

Emergency aid for SMEs and small business owners in the employment crisis zones and industrial crisis zones will be included. Budget to extend the period of job creating projects will be reflected in the bill. The party and the government also decided to increase customized support to improve export market and help export financing of SMEs. They also decided to review ways to install sprinklers in 1,826 multi-use facilities, such as gosiwon and postnatal care centers.

#extra budget bill #diesel cars #Gangwon fire #national assembly