[비즈한국] It has been confirmed that public redevelopment projects, introduced as a measure to increase housing supply in Seoul, have been showing sluggish progress as they enter their fourth year since the initial sites were selected. Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH) and Seoul Housing and Communities Corporation (SH) have been promoting redevelopment projects by selecting sites over two years starting in 2021, but it appears that 6 out of 10 of these project sites have not yet received designation as maintenance zones.
Public redevelopment refers to redevelopment projects where public corporations such as LH or SH participate as sole or joint implementers. The government introduced public redevelopment in May 2020 as a way to expand housing supply in Seoul while announcing measures to strengthen the housing supply base in the metropolitan area. The purpose was to have public entities participate in maintenance projects that were stagnant due to internal conflicts or lack of business viability to ensure rapid progress.
According to LH and SH, there are currently (as of the 18th) 33 public redevelopment project sites being pursued in Seoul. LH is participating as the developer in 19 sites, and SH in 14. LH and SH have been promoting the projects by selecting targets for public redevelopment in the first round (24 sites) in 2021 and the second round (9 sites) in 2022. It is expected that a total of 41,000 housing units (27,000 by LH) will be supplied from these project sites.
However, four years into the initial selection of project sites, 6 out of 10 public redevelopment projects in Seoul remain in the early stages. According to the two corporations, 13 public redevelopment sites (39% of the total) have completed their designation as maintenance zones and are currently pursuing integrated deliberations for approval of the project implementation plan. The remaining sites are either in the process of establishing maintenance plans (9 sites) or are pursuing preliminary planning for maintenance plan establishment (11 sites). This means that 20 out of the 33 total maintenance project sites (61%) have not yet cleared the first hurdle: designation as a maintenance zone.
The Seoul public redevelopment sites that have completed their maintenance zone designation are the 6 sites where LH is the developer—Sinseol 1, Jeonnong 9, Seongbuk 1, Jangwi 9, Sinwol 7-2, and Geoyeo Saemaul—and the 7 sites where SH is the developer—Gangbuk 5, Yongdu 1-6, Yangpyeong 13, Hongeun 1, Yeonhui 2, Chungjeongro 1, and Jangwi 8. The sites in the preliminary planning stage include all 9 sites selected in the second round in 2022 (Dorim-dong 26-21, Yeongeon-dong 305, Myeonmok-dong 527, Sinwol 5-dong 77, Guro-dong 252, Siheung 4-dong 4, Chang-dong 470, Eungam 101, and Ahyun 699) and 2 sites selected in 2021: Sungin 1169 and Sanggye 3.
The project period originally announced by the government at the time of the introduction of public redevelopment was 5 years. Public redevelopment follows procedures such as selecting candidate sites, preliminary planning, establishing maintenance plans, designating maintenance zones, designating project implementers, selecting construction companies, integrated deliberations, approving project implementation plans, approving management and disposal plans, and then beginning construction and completion. The government stated that it would shorten the redevelopment project period from the existing 10 years to within 5 years through deliberations by the urban planning subcommittee and integrated deliberations for project implementation plans.
An official from LH said, "While there are delays in some project sites due to factors such as not meeting the required rate of resident consent, the overall speed of the public redevelopment projects currently being promoted is faster than that of the private sector." An SH official also added, "We are properly promoting public redevelopment projects according to the situation facing each zone. It is difficult to say that the progress is slow when viewed as a whole."