[Exclusive] Building Safety Center to prevent poor construction...Half of them are "half-run."

[Anchor]
It is the 'Local Building Safety Center', which manages and supervises poor construction.

Not a few local governments have yet to set up a building safety center, and nearly half of the local governments set up are having difficulty operating because they have not secured essential personnel.

Reporter Choi Doo-hee reports exclusively.

[Reporter]
In June 2021, nine people were killed and eight others were injured in the collapse of a demolition building in Hak-dong, Gwangju.

To prevent such accidents, the establishment of a regional building safety center to manage and supervise poor construction at construction sites has been mandatory since last year.

Last year, the total number of mandatory installation local governments was expanded to 140 and the installation was completed by July.

However, as of the end of June, 46 local governments have failed to install the center, and 25 after July, when the installation should have been completed earlier.

The center must hire one architect and one architectural structural engineer each, but many of them failed to secure such essential manpower, so they ended up operating half of them.

In fact, less than half of the local governments that have finished hiring professionals such as architects and structural engineers are required to install.

In particular, there are only about 1,000 architectural structural engineers nationwide, but the wage level is extremely low compared to private companies, so it is not easy to find applicants even if they announce job openings several times.

[A City Hall Architecture Department Manager: (Regarding professional manpower) Our remuneration system is limited to the law. The amount and salary are too low for the technical skills of the manpower, so we can't hire them....]

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, which is in charge of the ministry, says that there are many difficulties in setting up and operating the center because there are many local governments that are difficult to find professional manpower.

We are also considering easing the standards for hiring professionals in some military areas.

[Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport official: We are considering lowering the number of professionals from two to one by revising the enforcement ordinance. Only in areas with a population of less than 100,000 people....]

Some point out that if it is due to a manpower shortage, improvement measures are needed to allow professional personnel to operate in each region.

[Min Hong-cheol / Minjoo Party member: As an alternative, I think it will have a significant effect in the beginning if we allow experts to operate in full-zero regions. In the end, I think the problem is the interest of local governments and the support of the central government.

Above all, as it is a serious issue directly related to the safety of the people, it seems urgent not only to fully support the budget necessary for the operation of the center but also to consider ways to increase the effectiveness of the system.

I'm Choi Doohee of YTN.

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