A comprehensive plan to renovate construction-halted buildings that mar the urban landscape as well as aging public buildings is expected to be established and implemented on a large scale.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (Minister Kim Hyun-mee) has been running its 5th round of pilot project competition for local governments nationwide since June 24, aiming to accelerate the renovation of construction-halted buildings and the renewal of aging public buildings.
The renovation of construction-halted buildings and the public building renewal pilot projects were decided upon at the '8th Trade and Investment Promotion Meeting (July 9, 2015)' to stimulate the economy, create jobs, and improve people's quality of life. In collaboration with the Korea Land and Housing Corporation, the Ministry has selected pilot projects every year since 2015 and, by providing practical support such as development-concept consulting, has been working to generate project outcomes that the public can tangibly feel.
According to the 2016 survey of construction-halted buildings, there are 387 such buildings nationwide. Not only do they detract from the urban landscape, but they also pose a high risk of triggering crime and accidents, making them an obstacle to regional vitality. Public offices number a total of about 183,000 buildings (as of April 30, 2019), of which roughly 44,000 (24%) are more than 30 years old — not only outdated and inconvenient but also vulnerable to disasters such as earthquakes — making efforts to enhance public convenience all the more urgent.
To secure momentum for projects closely tied to people's everyday lives, the Ministry has selected pilot projects four times since 2015. By injecting national funds into project districts to review project models and support the establishment of development concepts, it has led to tangible results such as construction commencement, project agency arrangements, and passing investment reviews.
This 5th round of pilot projects will fairly evaluate the public value and business feasibility of projects submitted by local governments by July 18, with selections scheduled for the end of August.
Under the new selection method, linkage with living SOC (social overhead capital) has been added as an evaluation item, and the existing relative-evaluation approach has been changed to an absolute-evaluation approach, so that all projects meeting the evaluation criteria will be selected as pilot projects.
Kim Sang-moon, Director General for Architecture Policy at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, said, "By enabling as many local governments as possible to participate in this competition, and in consideration of the ripple effects on the public, we ask local governments to actively support this competition."