[Seoul's News] Seoul City Introduces the Aged Infrastructure Forecasting
Seoul City Introduces the Aged Infrastructure Forecasting
The Seoul Metropolitan Government will implement the Seoul Infrastructure Next 100 Year Project to prepare for the next century in the era of threatened safety and financial difficulties due to the rapid increase of aged city infrastructure.
The SMG will change the current facility management technique which focuses on ‘short-term maintenance and post management’ to ‘preemptive mid- to long-term response in preparation for the future’ in order to create a safe city and guarantee long-term economic stability.
More specifically, the facility maintenance system, which had been operated independently for each facility will be integrated under the leadership of the safety control headquarters as the control tower. The control tower will establish a big data database of management details, predict the best time for maintenance and reinforcement for each facility based on this data and invest money at the right time. This model can also be called the future-predicting model. The SMG is expected to save KRW 828.7 billion (34%) of the city’s budget on bridges by 2030.
The SMG will change the current facility management technique which focuses on ‘short-term maintenance and post management’ to ‘preemptive mid- to long-term response in preparation for the future’ in order to create a safe city and guarantee long-term economic stability.
More specifically, the facility maintenance system, which had been operated independently for each facility will be integrated under the leadership of the safety control headquarters as the control tower. The control tower will establish a big data database of management details, predict the best time for maintenance and reinforcement for each facility based on this data and invest money at the right time. This model can also be called the future-predicting model. The SMG is expected to save KRW 828.7 billion (34%) of the city’s budget on bridges by 2030.
The Seoul Infrastructure Next 100 Year Project can be divided into the four areas of ① forming a foundation for preemptive maintenance, ② advancement of preemptive maintenance technology, ③ setting of comprehensive investment priority and securing funds and ④ establishing a cooperative system.
To do so, first, the SMG will make it mandatory to write a ‘Condition Report’ for facilities (bridges, tunnels, water supply and drainage systems) that are 30 year or older and update the information every five years.
Second, technology advancement will be pursued through the use of the latest ICT technology such as big data analysis. A facility management information database will be established by the first half of 2018, utilized to predict and analyze the change in condition and maintenance cost for each facility, and lead to the development of a future-predicting model that calculates the best time for maintenance and reinforcement.
Third, to effectively secure funds, the SMG will come up with a mid- to long-term investment plan by July 2017. As there will be initial investment costs involved before saving budget costs in the long term, the government will subsidize the initial cost.
Lastly, a system of cooperation will be established between the central government, citizens and experts and related organizations to maximize the effects of urban infrastructure maintenance. Since aging facilities are a phenomenon of national concern, the city government will actively propose financial and systematic support from the central government.