The government will push a plan to exempt corporations moving into mega special zones from paying the Electric Power Industry Infrastructure Fund levy for three years and to extend special supply of dwellings to teachers and medical workers relocating to the regions. The plan also includes designating special leading districts for renewable energy to directly supply solar and wind power to tenant corporations.
On the 6th, according to the government, the Democratic Party of Korea and the government held a party-government consultation at the National Assembly on the 4th and discussed enacting a special law on mega special zones. The special law is expected to include 264 legal provisions and some 330 general special cases, and they decided to raise it as a member's bill at the National Policy Committee and improve its completeness through deliberations in the National Assembly.
The party and the government are considering exempting corporations that build new factories or expand existing ones from paying the Electric Power Industry Infrastructure Fund levy, which is 2.7% of electricity bills, for three years. They will also designate areas near the special zones as special leading districts for renewable energy, allowing power generators and tenant corporations to sign power purchase agreements (PPA) to conduct power transactions directly without going through KEPCO. They will also push to ease setback distance rules and reduce rents on national and local government property. The idea is to lessen the burden of meeting RE100 (100% renewable energy use) for semiconductor and AI data centers while giving power generators stable demand.
Location regulations will be eased significantly. Land form changes will be allowed before greenbelt release to support swift factory establishment, and they will also push to streamline permits and ease floor area ratio and building coverage ratio rules. A plan is under review to lower the obligation for a grandchild company to hold 100% equity in a great-grandchild company to 50%.
Teachers and medical workers relocating to the special zones will receive special supply of dwellings, and special cases will be granted for establishing special-purpose high schools and science high schools and for admitting children of overseas talent to foreign schools. They will also push to simplify hospital establishment and ease regulations to attract hotels and shopping malls, while the exception to the 52-hour workweek, which faces strong opposition from labor groups, will be discussed through social dialogue.
A government official said, "There were additional improvement requests at the party-government consultation, so this is not the final plan."