The Seoul city government announced it would overhaul its system to significantly streamline redevelopment procedures. The announcement included a processing-deadline system for each project stage. The redevelopment industry expressed concern that it would be difficult to see a meaningful effect in shortening project timelines.
According to the redevelopment industry on the 18th, the Seoul city government said redevelopment projects currently take an average of 18 years and 6 months and announced it would reduce that to 13 years through a stage-by-stage processing-deadline system. It plans to cut an average of 5.5 years in key sections, including designation of redevelopment zones (2.5 years→2 years), establishment of the promotion committee and association (3.5 years→1 year), and project implementation, management and disposition approval, and relocation (8.5 years→6 years).
In particular, it said it would shorten association establishment, which had taken an average of 3.5 years, to within one year after zone designation by improving the requirements and procedures for public subsidies and simultaneously advancing zone designation and preparations for association establishment.
Oh Se-hoon, the Seoul mayor, said in a lecture at the "citizen redevelopment academy" held at the Jungnang District residents' center in Seoul on the afternoon of the 11th, "We have been pushing initiatives such as the streamlined integrated planning to reduce the time to zone designation from 5 years to 2 years, and we will move quickly on administrative procedures by introducing budget support for promotion committees, a stage-by-stage processing-deadline system, and a conflict coordinator system to carry out a 'speed battle.'"
Previously, the Seoul city government introduced streamlined integrated planning to reduce the time to designate redevelopment zones, but it faced criticism for failing to deliver results due to issues such as association establishment, managing resident conflict, securing project feasibility, and speeding up permits and approvals.
In response to such criticism, the Seoul city government introduced a stage-by-stage processing-deadline system. It plans to set the project into a total of six sections and divide it into 42 detailed processes to monitor for delays.
Although the measure is intended to prevent project delays, there are concerns it could act as administrative pressure to suppress resident backlash or shift responsibility for delays onto associations. A redevelopment industry official said, "There are many problems stemming from a lack of communication, such as contributed acceptance issues and conflicts between residents and associations, so I worry this could instead become a system to suppress resident backlash," adding, "The speed of zone designation has certainly increased thanks to the streamlined integrated planning, so if the tangled interests around redevelopment can be resolved quickly, it could be effective. However, the processing-deadline system alone is unlikely to solve that easily."
Some experts, however, offered a positive outlook, saying it could be effective once it takes root after implementation. Ko Jun-seok, a chief professor at Yonsei University Sangnam Institute of Management, said, "Simply introducing a time-reduction system is more effective than doing nothing," adding, "While it is hard to prevent delays caused by disputes at individual complexes, introducing a processing-deadline system first and setting deadlines could serve as a catalyst to speed up projects."
Lee Eun-hyung, a research fellow at the Construction and Economy Research Institute of Korea, said, "Streamlined integrated planning and the stage-by-stage processing-deadline system are policies needed to revitalize redevelopment," adding, "However, given higher additional contributions at present, policies to shorten redevelopment timelines are unlikely to show quick results. It is positive in terms of putting the system in place in preparation for potential improvements in industry conditions going forward."