The government will overhaul administrative procedures for building public incineration facilities to cut the required time from 11 years and 8 months to 8 years and 2 months. It will also start applying streamlined administrative procedures this month, including exemptions from local government finance investment reviews, to 20 facilities nationwide where project plans have been fleshed out.
The government on the 22nd announced a plan to accelerate the expansion of public incineration facilities. With direct landfilling of municipal solid waste banned in the greater Seoul area since January this year, facility shortages have emerged, and because direct landfilling is scheduled to be banned outside the capital region starting in 2030, there is urgent need to expand incineration facilities nationwide.
The core of the plan is to shorten administrative procedures at every stage. Construction of public incineration facilities consists of four major stages: site selection and project conception, master plan and administrative procedures, design, and construction. The government plans to fix procedures that were obstacles at each stage to reduce the total by 3 years and 6 months.
The site selection and project conception stage currently takes 30 months. Even when expanding on an existing site, a new site selection committee had to be formed, which alone took more than six months. Going forward, it can be replaced by a resolution of an already operating residents' support council, shortening the stage to 18 months.
The master plan and administrative procedures stage takes 38 months. Because the method for calculating facility capacity was not standardized, capacity or expense often changed mid-project, and time increased because a local government finance investment review had to be conducted every time. Going forward, the method for calculating facility capacity and the basis for calculating total project cost will be standardized to reduce project changes, and the local government finance investment review will be exempted for five years to shorten the stage to 27 months.
The design stage currently takes 24 months, but various permits and approvals, such as environmental impact assessments, which had been conducted sequentially and separately from design, will be handled simultaneously, and the number of design adequacy reviews will be reduced from three to two, compressing the stage to 17 months. The construction stage is currently the longest at 48 months. The production method for equipment will be shifted from sequential to simultaneous and advance production, shortening the stage to 36 months.
At the same time, incentives to increase resident acceptance will be strengthened. The additional charge on fees for treating waste from other regions will be raised from 10% to 20% to improve resident acceptance, and the scope of state support will be expanded from installation costs to include demolition and land acquisition costs.
The government plans to select 20 facilities nationwide as priority projects—including in the capital region (Guri, Gimpo, Bucheon, Uijeongbu, Gwacheon), Honam region (Goheung, Jangseong, Yeongam, Wando, Jeonju, Damyang), Chungcheong region (Chungju, Yeongdong, Sejong, Asan), and Yeongnam and Gangwon regions (Gimcheon, Daegu, Changnyeong, Goryeong, Cheorwon)—and concentrate support on streamlining administrative procedures.