President Lee Jae-myung ordered that, in pushing ahead with the "three major megaprojects" worth 4,700 trillion won, "start the negotiated acquisition and the compulsory expropriation procedures at the same time in the process of acquiring land (to build semiconductor production facilities and AI data centers)." Usually, if negotiated acquisition runs into problems and cannot find common ground for a long time, authorities begin the procedure to compel the transfer of ownership, but he said to proceed simultaneously to minimize this procedure.
On the morning of the 6th at Cheong Wa Dae, Lee presided over a "megaproject public-private joint review meeting" and said, "If there is 'holding out' or 'land hoarding' while acquiring land through negotiation, it takes an enormous amount of time, and if that still doesn't work, only at the very end do we begin the compulsory expropriation procedure. Start the procedures at the same time," adding, "That is the original intent of the law. It would be good not to spend time on negotiated acquisition."
Under the current Act on the Acquisition of Land, etc. for Public Works and the Compensation Therefor (the Land Compensation Act), if a project operator fails to acquire land through negotiation, it secures land ownership by force for the public interest after going through the Land Expropriation Committee's expropriation adjudication process. If talks fail, it typically takes about six months from filing for adjudication to the completion of final compulsory expropriation.
Cheong Wa Dae aims to shorten this period as much as possible to speed up construction. Lee said, "If compensation is delayed (during the forced transfer of ownership), it takes more time, and it would be good to prevent such things from happening," adding, "The whole world is now engaged in an all-out competition with national fortunes at stake to prepare for an entirely new future centered on AI. It seems to be decided by who takes the lead faster. Only a speed battle matters."
He also said, "The central government must anticipate all expected obstacles so that corporations can focus solely on investment and on-site work, and resolve them preemptively," adding, "There must never be a case where investment execution is delayed due to administrative procedure delays." He added, "In the case of the general industrial complex in Yongin, people say it moved relatively fast, but it reportedly took six years from finalizing the site to breaking ground on the fab," noting, "One could say that is relatively fast, but by my standards it does not seem that fast."
◇ Order to "drastically shorten" environmental impact assessments
He also called for shortening administrative procedures such as environmental impact assessments. For already verified project zones, the idea is to omit required steps such as setting the scope, drafting the proposal, and collecting residents' opinions. Lee said, "While environmental impact assessments are necessary, if it is the same area, is there really a need to do it again?" adding, "If there is already an assessment, it is important to operate based on that result, and even if a new one is carried out, the period needs to be drastically shortened."
Regarding securing essential infrastructure such as power and water, he said, "Do not wait until other procedures are finished. On the premise that it will naturally be approved, secure power and water preemptively." Lee said corporations are particularly concerned about "baseload power" (generation sources that operate continuously regardless of power demand) and added, "It would be good if the government could preemptively resolve even concerns about baseload power. The Climate Ministry should design an efficient approach."