The Pyongyang municipal government has recently issued an order calling for the use of methane gas for energy in the outskirts of the city, Daily NK has learned.
A Daily NK source in North Korea, speaking on condition of anonymity, reported last Wednesday that Pyongyang’s People’s Committee “issued an administrative order to the capital’s outlying agricultural regions on July 7, urging them to install refining equipment.” This marked the Pyongyang People’s Committee’s “first activity to carry out its tasks for the people’s economy in the second half of the year,” according to the source.
The administrative order aims to address chronic energy shortages and improve living conditions in the agricultural areas surrounding Pyongyang, the source said.
“Living standards and conditions in the agricultural communities on the outskirts of the capital are deplorable compared to those in the central districts,” the source explained. The city people’s committee emphasized that the authorities in these areas must “properly implement the party’s policy to resolve the fuel shortage in remote rural communities and enhance living conditions by converting methane gas into energy.”
Following the municipal government’s order, local authorities in Pyongyang’s rural counties—such as Samsok, Sunan, Kangdong, and Kangnam—have been installing refining equipment developed by the National Academy of Sciences in sewage treatment plants of one-story farmer’s villages on a trial basis since Friday.
This equipment refines biogas from human excrement and other waste into high-purity methane gas.
Fees will be collected from local residents to pay for installation
The committee intends to roll out the methane gas project in select counties this fall and gradually expand it to all outlying agricultural counties over several years. Initially, the refining equipment will be installed at sewage treatment plants in neighborhoods, villages, and communes. The installation costs will be covered by non-tax burdens, specifically fees collected from local residents.
For instance, the neighborhood office in downtown Kangdong District has ordered all households selected for the installation to pay KPW 70,000, with the directive communicated through local neighborhood watch unit heads.
“The city people’s committee aims to implement the plan swiftly and encourage early public participation by reducing the cost burden on households that voluntarily participate in the installation,” the source said.
However, the source noted that residents of outlying agricultural communities are skeptical. They believe that while the municipal people’s committee is currently pushing the project vigorously, “the project may fizzle out over time, as usual,” and that the city government is “unnecessarily increasing non-tax burdens with the project.”
Daily NK works with a network of sources living in North Korea, China, and elsewhere. Their identities remain anonymous for security reasons.
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