The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport is pursuing a plan to utilize artificial intelligence (AI) technology to eradicate illegal subcontracting at construction sites. The goal is to monitor and crackdown on illegal subcontracting occurrences in construction sites where hundreds of thousands of contracts are made and work is underway simultaneously each year. While the Basic Construction Industry Act prohibits subcontractors from re-subcontracting, such illegal practices persist in many construction sites. The Ministry plans to conduct research to create an analytical system using AI to track suspected illegal subcontractors.
According to the construction industry on the 27th, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport's Construction Site Compliance Monitoring Team has issued a tender notice for 'Research on Measures to Eliminate Illegal Subcontracting Using AI' and will accept applications from the 28th until April 1. This study is an attempt to enhance the early warning system operated by the Ministry since 2014 using AI.
The Ministry operates a system called KISCON to monitor re-subcontracting prohibited by the Basic Construction Industry Act. When contracting more than 100 million won for construction projects, the system requires input of ▲project name ▲location address ▲type of construction ▲method of subcontracting ▲contract bidding method ▲contract amount within 30 days of the contract date, managing this information through the 'Comprehensive Construction Industry Information Network.' An average of 170,000 construction site records are included in this system annually. Since multiple re-subcontracting instances often occur at a single construction site, the data that the government needs to manage and supervise exceeds hundreds of thousands.
One of the reasons the government recognizes the risks of re-subcontracting and is mobilizing AI is the demolition building collapse incident that occurred on June 9, 2021, in the Haktong area of Gwangju. Known as the 'Gwangju No. 54 Bus Disaster,' this accident took place during the demolition of the Haksan Building located at 717 Nammun-ro, Dong-gu, while it was being demolished for redevelopment of the Haktong 4 area. The collapsing building fell onto a bus that was stopped at the Haktong and Jeungsimsa Entrance City Bus Station.
The bus was buried, resulting in 17 casualties (9 dead and 8 injured). According to the results of an investigation by the government joint investigation committee, the reason for the poorly executed demolition was that the subcontractor re-subcontracted to another subcontractor, resulting in a multi-tiered subcontracting arrangement. The primary contractor responsible for the demolition and construction was HDC Hyundai Development Company, but the contracts were successively awarded to Hansol Company, Baeksoul Company, and Asan Industrial Development, forming a multi-tiered contract structure. Four rounds of subcontracting contracts were established, with commissions received at each intermediary contract, and the demolition cost was reduced from 280,000 won per 3.3 square meters to 40,000 won.
The Ministry plans to utilize machine learning (ML) to leverage AI to prevent such disasters from happening again and eradicate illegal sites. Machine learning is a field that develops technologies that allow computers to learn and improve through experience.
Cho Suk-hyun, head of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport's Construction Site Compliance Monitoring Team, noted, 'Currently, personnel are manually verifying the legality of construction contracts, but by training this on AI, we can identify sites with a high potential for illegal subcontracting, thereby increasing efficiency,' adding, 'The government's commitment is to use this as a basis to link on-site inspections and eliminate illegal subcontracting.'