Concerns are growing about delays in large public construction projects, such as the Gadeokdo New Airport, due to the state of emergency and the aftermath of the impeachment political landscape. In fact, inquiries about schedule delays have been sent to the issuing organizations.
According to the construction industry on the 15th, projects such as 'Gadeokdo New Airport access road' this month and 'Gadeokdo New Airport access railway sections 1 and 2' planned for February next year are about to be issued. Additionally, railway projects such as the Goyang-Eunpyeong Line and the Gangdong-Hanam-Namyangju Line are also set to be issued. The construction industry anticipates that high-ranking officials at major issuing organizations, such as public enterprises, will mostly halt appointments during this impeachment political landscape. In particular, for large projects, it is expected that existing officials will find it difficult to promote new tasks, leading to delays in project issuance.
In fact, inquiries about the possibility of delays in issuing and bidding schedules for large facility projects have been made to major issuing organizations such as the Korea National Railway Corporation, Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH), and the Public Procurement Service. An official at one issuing organization noted, "Planned projects are expected to proceed without setbacks," adding, "However, some construction and implementation companies have expressed concerns about delays, so we are explaining the situation."
In the past impeachment political landscape, appointments within the government and major issuing organizations were suspended under an acting authority system. During the administration of Park Geun-hye in 2013, a project was promoted to establish the Hwaseong International Theme Park as a pledged project, but as negotiations for advancing the project became difficult, the impeachment political landscape overlapped, leading to the declaration of the end of negotiations at the Water Resources Corporation in January 2017.
Construction companies are showing reactions that major issuing projects are likely to be delayed, which could disrupt their operations. Explanations followed that difficulties they were facing due to economic recession, cash liquidity instability, and rising construction costs are exacerbated by the impeachment political landscape. An official at a major construction company said, "Recently, most public projects have been budgeted at low costs, and many are undergoing re-evaluation, but during the impeachment political landscape, evaluations will not proceed properly," adding, "The market atmosphere is not favorable, and there are some parts of the project that are not proceeding smoothly. It is true that there are concerns about public works in the industry until the functions of the administration return to normal."
An official at a mid-sized construction company stated, "So far, there have been no direct impacts from project delays, but internally, we are closely monitoring the effects of the impeachment political landscape on our projects by preparing analytical reports."
Critiques have emerged regarding the difficulty of promoting public policies due to the absence of a control tower in the impeachment political landscape. Kim Tae-jun, a senior researcher at the Korea Construction Policy Research Institute, stated, "SOC projects like the Gadeokdo New Airport have been difficult to advance from the outset due to various conditions, and they are expected to be further affected by the impeachment political landscape," adding, "The absence of a control tower will lead to a loss of momentum for pushing projects forward within lower public organizations."
He further noted, "When only the basic construction has been carried out for large public works such as the Gadeokdo New Airport, it will be difficult to move on to the next stage of the project until the impeachment political landscape settles, given that the scale of construction is large and there are many long-term considerations involved."