Next year’s budget passed by the National Assembly in the wee hours of early Wednesday included 19 trillion won ($17.4 billion) set aside for various social overhead capital, or infrastructure, up 1.3 trillion won from the government’s original plan.

The budget also marked the largest infrastructure increase. The government stated the reason for the budget increase was due to the sector’s impact on the local economy.

Last-minute increases came from various regional construction projects endorsed by lawmakers representing their constituencies.

The construction sector welcomed the development, as it has contended the construction industry comes with effective employment opportunities, although the budget still falls below this year’s 22.1 trillion won.

The Moon Jae-in administration had reduced the sector’s budget by 20 percent for next year.

The conclusive budget additionally includes a construction project worth 100 billion won to link Gwangju and Gangjin, South Jeolla Province, along with a plan for 80 billion won to build a double track railway elsewhere.

The local construction sector has been hit by hard financial times during a recession in the overseas construction market and downturn in the real estate market.

According to the government, the infrastructure budget has been cut mostly due to the need to restructure fiscal spending by 11.5 trillion won.

By Julie Jackson (juliejackson@heraldcorp.com)