The time it takes for reconstruction and redevelopment projects to be completed in Seoul is reduced from an average of 18.5 years to 13 years. This is because the Seoul Metropolitan Government decided to allow associations to carry out procedures simultaneously, promoting the establishment of associations at the same time as district designation. Additionally, a 'processing deadline system' has been introduced to specify deadlines for each stage to prevent project delays.
Oh Se-hoon, the mayor of Seoul, visited the Sindang 9 district in Jung-gu, Seoul, on the 24th, to announce the 'housing supply promotion plan.' Although the 'panic buying' phenomenon has somewhat eased due to the June 27 loan regulations, concerns about a potential shortage of housing units in the future remain. In response, the Seoul government has proposed measures to accelerate its own urban renewal projects to facilitate housing supply.
This plan consists mainly of 'shortening the urban renewal project period' and 'thorough project management.' First, it aims to enhance the effectiveness and speed of projects by eliminating regulations for all processes from district designation to completion and blocking administrative bottlenecks.
The goal is to reduce the duration of 'district designation' from 2.5 years to 2 years, 'promotion committee and association establishment' from 3.5 years to 1 year, and 'project implementation, management approval, and relocation' from 8.5 years to 6 years, for a total reduction of 5.5 years.
If chosen as a candidate site for rapid integrated planning redevelopment, the establishment of a management plan will be supported immediately, and consent for a separate district designation will be waived. Once the district designation is made, public subsidies will be provided immediately without a separate resident consent process to expedite the establishment of a promotion committee and association. Residents will be able to prepare for association establishment immediately after the district designation, with the average time for establishment expected to be shortened from 3.5 years to within 1 year.
In addition, an 'administrative procedure pre-approval and simultaneous process' system will be introduced to allow individual urban renewal project procedures, which had to be conducted sequentially, to proceed simultaneously. For example, during the integrated review process, the project implementation plan can be drafted in advance so that the application for project implementation can be made immediately after completion of the review. Procedures such as structural and excavation reviews before demolition will also be pushed forward simultaneously to advance the construction start date.
The Seoul government plans to prevent project delays through fair management of individual urban renewal sites. As part of this, the 'processing deadline system' will be introduced at all stages of the urban renewal project. Previously, the Seoul government had already implemented a 'processing deadline system' for rapid integrated planning for reconstruction. According to this processing deadline system applied to new plans, if procedures are not carried out within a certain period, the rapid integrated plan will be canceled.
However, the 'processing deadline system' being introduced this time aims to prevent administrative delays by specifically setting 'target processing deadlines' for each stage.
A system will be established that designates 'processing promotion officers' and 'conflict management officers' for each project site to discover and resolve the causes of project delays early. The 'processing promotion officer' will diagnose the causes of delays in sites where the processing deadline has been exceeded or schedules are delayed, and prepare countermeasures. The 'conflict management officer' will assist in immediate mediation and facilitate smooth project advancement in case of conflicts occurring within the district.
Through this plan, the Seoul government aims to enhance the willingness of the private sector to promote projects and increase the feasibility of housing supply. The Sindang 9 area, where Mayor Oh personally visited, is expected to become the first example when this plan is realized. This area has been noted as a representative case where projects have stalled for nearly 20 years. In the Sindang 9 district, eight multi-family dwellings and 315 housing units will be built on the site located at 432-1008 Sindang-dong (area size 18,651 square meters).
The 'third regulatory abolition' by the Seoul government will be applied for the first time. This system relaxes the public contribution ratio arising from land use upgrades in height-regulated areas, such as height-regulated districts, allowing it to be reduced from the existing 10% to as low as 2%. Additionally, the maximum height in height-regulated areas will be relaxed from 28 meters to 45 meters, allowing the number of floors to be increased from the existing 7 floors to 15 floors, and the floor area ratio will also be expanded from the existing 161% to over 250%. Consequently, it is expected that the supply can increase from the originally planned 315 housing units to approximately 500 units or more.
Meanwhile, since the introduction of the rapid integrated planning in 2021, the Seoul government has selected 241 sites for redevelopment and reconstruction (378,000 units), of which 145 sites (194,000 units) have been designated as urban renewal zones. It aims to designate 312,000 units as urban renewal zones by June next year, which would exceed the originally planned 270,000 units by 116%.