In response to ruling party claims that the Seoul Metropolitan Government should transfer key permitting powers, including designating maintenance zones, to district offices, heads of associations on the front lines of maintenance projects pushed back, saying the pace of projects could slow.
The Seoul Metropolitan Government held the second public-private consultative meeting to boost dwellings supply on the 20th with the Seoul Maintenance Project Association (Seojeongyeon). Twelve officials attended the meeting, including Myeong No-jun, Seoul's architectural planning director, the chief housing and real estate policy officer, the head of the housing maintenance division, and Kim Jun-yong, Seojeongyeon's chair, and vice chairs.
Seojeongyeon officials said institutional improvements are needed to speed up project promotion, including deregulation and simplifying documents for forming promotion committees. Seojeongyeon also addressed the Democratic Party of Korea's push to transfer the authority to designate maintenance zones to the 25 districts, saying, "When we actually did the work, most permitting bottlenecks occurred not at the Seoul Metropolitan Government but at the district offices," and added, "Even now, excluding Seoul's review, all permitting authority—such as establishing maintenance plans, approving project implementation, and granting start and completion permits—rests with the districts."
They also pointed out that the speed of administrative processing varies greatly by district and by person in charge. A Seojeongyeon official said, "When residents of each zone talk among themselves, the gap in administrative processing speed by district is very large, and even for the same task, the way it is handled differs by the person in charge," and added, "If authority is transferred to the districts, residents have significant concerns that projects will actually be delayed." Another official said, "District offices inevitably tend to be more sensitive to their own priority projects or local complaints, so they sometimes demand public-contribution facilities from associations pushing projects, and they often fail to mediate resident conflicts."
Myeong No-jun, Seoul's architectural planning director, said, "To strengthen policy execution, it is important to listen to and reflect voices from the field," and added, "We will closely review today's suggestions and concerns, promptly reflect what can be incorporated into Seoul's policies, and actively consult and propose items that require cooperation with the central government."