North Jeolla accused of sketchy Jamboree contracts

Contracts that the North Jeolla government signed regarding construction of foundational facilities at the campsite, as well as provision of supplies, have deadlines set after the World Scout Jamboree began on Aug. 1.

World Scout Jamboree participants try to cool off from the heat on Aug. 2 at the campsite at Saemangeum in Buan County, North Jeolla. Lack of shade and fundamental facilities including showers and toilets were considered a major issue at the beginning of the event. [YONHAP]

The World Scout Jamboree may have officially ended Friday with fireworks lighting up the sky above the K-pop concert at Seoul World Cup Stadium, but controversy over the disastrous management of the international event lives on, especially as questionable business deals by the host province's government surface.

According to People Power Party (PPP) lawmaker Kweon Seong-dong’s office, some of the contracts that the North Jeolla government signed regarding the construction of foundational facilities at the campsite, as well as provision of supplies, have deadlines set after the World Scout Jamboree began on Aug. 1.

Some even have construction deadlines set for the end of the year.

Among the 256 contracts that the North Jeolla government signed with private contractors, 15 had overdue deadlines set far past the official opening. While most of the 15 were services contracts, three were for constructing essential facilities.

Critics say these contracts with late deadlines may be behind the problems that plagued the Jamboree campsite at Saemangeum, including the lack of shade or cooling facilities and the unfinished drainage system that turned the venue into a muddy swamp.

The scouts also suffered from shower and toilet shortages and poor sanitation due to a lack of cleaning staff.

Some of the contracts signed were dated as far back as March 2016, while others were signed as recently as July, just a month before the official ceremony.

“While having services and goods supplied late was also a problem, it is more difficult to understand how the deadline for construction projects that would physically impact the Jamboree was set for after the opening ceremony,” Kweon said.

The second-largest project in terms of contract size, a 6.7 billion won ($5 million) deal to build "secondary infrastructure for the Jamboree," had a deadline of Dec. 17, four months after the global ceremony was set to end.

Additionally, a 380 million won project to install an electrical grid was set to end on Aug. 5, four days into the Jamboree. Another 40 million won construction project to install an electrical system at the assembly center had a construction deadline of Aug. 10.

The North Jeolla government has come under fire for picking the companies in the construction projects late.

The Jamboree's infrastructure plan included the construction of a 26-kilometer (16-mile) water pipe and 31-kilometer sewer system, as well as three water treatment facilities, three parking lots and 3.7-kilometers of shading.

However, the contract to build them was signed in December 2021, less than two years before the opening ceremony and more than four years after Saemangeum was picked to host the World Scout Jamboree in 2017.

Another problem is North Jeolla only allowed companies that are based in the province to bid for Jamboree-related contracts.

As a result, a construction company based in Buan County ranked 964th nationally in terms of construction capacity was picked to build the basic infrastructure.

The company won the 4 billion won-project and broke ground in December 2021 but failed to finish construction, leading to drainage problems.

An electric company based in Jangsu County, North Jeolla, in August 2022 won the contract to install the electricity grid. However, not only was the construction to be completed on Aug. 5, after the opening of the Jamboree, but the company also struggled with the heavy rain that fell on the region a week earlier, delaying the entire process.

“Because the bidding was limited to regional companies with small capacity and some of the verbal contracts were made to business owners with close relations [with the local government], the construction itself was delayed because such companies didn’t have the capacity,” said a PPP official who requested anonymity.

The Global Youth Leader Center, the main center of the Jamboree, is one of the many buildings that remain uncompleted.

Bidding for the contract to build the center began last April, just 16 months before the opening ceremony.

Yet the construction schedule of the youth center was 660 days. Considering that construction started in June last year, the completion of the center would be in March 2024.

Despite North Jeolla putting up the construction of the youth center for a public bid, the project was given to a Jeonju-based company which wasn't even included in the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport’s list of top 1,000 construction companies ranked by their construction capacity.

“We suspect the North Jeolla government was trying to favor local companies since they put the project up for bid several times,” an official at Kweon’s office said.

The North Jeolla government said the entire construction schedule was delayed largely because of the work on reclaiming the land, which was only completed in December 2022.

“For the last five years since Saemangeum was picked to host the World Scout Jamboree, the North Jeolla government did nothing until a year before the event,” said Kweon. “As such, we face a situation where the construction is to be completed long after the event was closed.”

The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family has apologized for mishandling the World Scout Jamboree.

The ministry in a statement said it feels a heavy sense of responsibility as the main government department that was supposed to prepare and support the management of the Jamboree.

The ministry said it will fully cooperate with an audit. North Jeolla and the Jamboree's organizing committee also face audits.

However, ministry spokesperson Cho Min-kyung said she disagreed with criticism that Minister Kim Hyun-sook lacked commitment to the Jamboree.

Kim has made controversial comments about the Jamboree, including her praise of the early withdrawal from the Saemangeum campsite as a demonstration of Korea's crisis management ability.

She even said the central government's swift action during the Jamboree would help Busan win its bid for the World Expo in 2030.

Busan is one of the three finalists in contending to host the World Expo, with the final pick to be announced in November by the Bureau International des Exposition.

BY KIM JUN-YOUNG, LEE HO-JEONG [lee.hojeong@joongang.co.kr]