W61 Tril. to Be Spent on Infrastructure Projects

The government said Friday that it will push for over 60 trillion won ($52 billion) worth of state-initiated construction projects this year as part of efforts to bolster private investment and help accelerate the economic recovery.

According to the Ministry of Strategy and Finance, the government will carry out 61.1 trillion won worth of projects to construct roads, railways, seaports and other social infrastructure across the nation by luring investment from the private sector.

The amount includes new construction estimated at around 14.8 trillion won and 27.5 trillion won worth of projects carried over from the previous year, the ministry said.

The construction projects will be carried out through build-transfer-lease (BTL) or build-transfer-operate (BTO) systems, two major methods that the government uses to stimulate private-sector spending on state-initiated construction projects.

Through the systems, private builders are granted contracts to construct schools, social welfare facilities or other public facilities at their own expense and operate them to earn income or transfer ownership to the government in return for lease profits.

The government will push for a total of 19.9 trillion won worth of state-initiated construction through BTL, while 41.2 trillion won worth of BTO projects will be carried out this year, the report showed.