Yun Ho-jung: “Additional 13.6 billion won in funding for Hangang Bus effectively rejected ... insufficient grounds for reducing losses”

[Financial News] Minister of the Interior and Safety Yun Ho-jung said on the 26th that additional financial support for Seoul’s Hangang Bus project was “effectively denied.”
Minister Yun gave that answer at a comprehensive audit by the National Assembly’s Security and Public Administration Committee that day, when Park Joo-min, a lawmaker with the Democratic Party of Korea, asked whether the Ministry of the Interior and Safety had asked Seoul to reconsider its plan for additional financial support for Hangang Bus.
According to Park, Seoul asked the Ministry of the Interior and Safety last September to conduct a central investment review so it could provide an additional 13.591 billion won for next year’s Hangang Bus project. Minister Yun confirmed that Seoul had requested the review.
Park pointed out that Seoul’s investment review application projected that advertising revenue would double next year but provided no specific basis for the estimate. He also took issue with the fact that the passenger numbers for the same period differed between pages 11 and 16 of the application.
“Seoul submitted a plan to reduce its losses, but there is far too little supporting evidence,” Minister Yun said.
The possibility of additional funding through the Seoul Housing and Communities Corporation (SH) was also raised. Park said SH had invested about 107.2 billion won in the Hangang Bus project to date, and raised the possibility that SH could provide additional funding to a project that had been asked to undergo reconsideration in the central investment review.
When Park pointed to the possibility of indirect support through an SH capital contribution or loan, Minister Yun replied, “We will explore every available option, including an accounting audit.”

[email protected] Lee Bomi Reporter