Gyeonggi proposes 13 reforms to speed public housing projects

Gyeonggi Province plans to ask the central government and National Assembly to adopt 13 institutional reforms for public housing districts, including the third new-town developments. The province says the government’s August 13 rapid housing supply plan will only work if practical delays at project sites are addressed as well.

A meeting chaired by Gyeonggi Governor Choo Mi-ae discussed obstacles involving compensation, business relocation, metropolitan transport and decentralization. The central government’s plan aims to run public land development procedures in parallel and start construction more quickly, cutting the period from 68 months to 37 months. It also targets rapid construction of 89,000 public housing units by 2030.

The 13 proposals cover four measures for faster implementation and simpler procedures, three for corporate relocation and self-sufficient urban functions, and six for improving project structures and local fiscal forecasting. One proposal would create a legal exception allowing land and building records to be digitized, reducing the paperwork burden involved in preparing compensation plans. The province says issuing these documents accounts for 30% to 40% of the overall work.

Gyeonggi also wants corporate relocation districts designated during the initial planning stage, at the same time as public housing districts. The designation currently takes an average of more than three years after a district is created, which can delay construction. Other proposals would expand the province’s role as a project operator in public housing districts larger than 1 million square meters and broaden governors’ designation and approval authority to districts under 3.3 million square meters, from the current threshold of under 300,000 square meters.

The province further plans to seek an amendment to the National Finance Act that would exempt metropolitan transport projects already included in improvement plans from preliminary feasibility studies. It says this could cut at least a year and help implement the principle of transport first, residents later. Gyeonggi will gather views from LH, GH and other joint project operators before submitting a final proposal. Choo Mi-ae called for prompt discussions with lawmakers before parliamentary debate on the bills begins in earnest.

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Before discussions on the bills begin in earnest during the regular session, we need to meet with members of the Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee, the Strategy and Finance Committee, and local lawmakers to consult quickly.