The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said the amendment to the Special Act on Public Housing to accelerate compensation for public housing district projects will be promulgated and take effect on the 2nd.
The amendment allows a public housing project operator to begin preliminary procedures—such as negotiating purchases with residents and preparing land and property ledgers—even before a district is designated when creating a public housing district.
Under the current Act on the Acquisition of and Compensation for Land, etc. for Public Utilities, a project operator is allowed to negotiate purchases even before the project recognition notice. However, for public housing district development projects, project recognition and project operator designation occur at the time of district designation, which meant that Korea Land & Housing Corporation (LH), holding only the status of a project proposer before district designation, could not begin negotiated purchases.
According to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, with this amendment, negotiated purchases will be possible even before district designation, theoretically allowing the launch of a basic compensation survey for negotiated purchases from the time a candidate site is announced. In addition, for districts requiring early advancement, the start of the basic survey can be moved up by as much as about one year. Based on the third new towns, it takes an average of about 15.8 months from the candidate site announcement to the start of the basic survey.
In particular, this amendment is the first institutional improvement in the compensation acceleration package released as the Sept. 7 measures. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said it plans to shorten the overall compensation period by more than one year through the acceleration package.
In addition, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport plans to fully apply the amendment starting with the Seoripul district in Seoul, which is set for district designation around January next year. Furthermore, to accelerate compensation in the Seoripul district, the ministry plans to fully activate a collaboration system between LH and Seoul Housing and Urban Development Corporation (SH). LH and SH signed a joint project implementation agreement on Nov. 21 and discussed concrete cooperation measures, including efficient compensation directions.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport plans to place an order for on-site compensation survey services within December so both agencies can immediately begin the basic survey upon promulgation, and to form a Seoripul-dedicated compensation team.
Kim Bae-seong, head of the public housing promotion team at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, said, "This legal amendment is meaningful in that it lays the groundwork for a faster start to compensation procedures that had been long delayed in the course of public housing district projects," and added, "As the start of compensation talks, including identifying compensation requirements, will be moved up, residents are expected to face a significantly shorter wait for compensation talks."