Vice Minister Kim Ei-tak of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport attended the Central Construction Technology Review Committee 16th-term design review subcommittee integrity workshop held at the Government Sejong Convention Center on the afternoon of the 23rd, encouraged the review commissioners, and called for fair reviews.
That day, the Vice Minister said, "The government is working to create a fair market in which our construction companies compete on competence, not expedients or unfair practices," and added, "Because design reviews for technology-based bidding are a representative public authority that sets the direction of national projects and establishes fair order in the construction market, I ask the Commissioners to conduct principled and fair reviews."
The Central Construction Technology Review Committee's design review subcommittee is Korea's most authoritative construction technology expert committee, conducting design suitability reviews and evaluations for technology-based bidding, such as turnkey, on large national projects worth 30 billion won or more. Turnkey is a lump-sum bidding method in which a builder submits a design at the time of bidding and is responsible from design through construction.
For this 16th-term design review subcommittee, 275 experts were finally appointed from among about 1,000 recommended by academia and related institutions after thorough vetting of expertise and integrity.
This year, design reviews are scheduled for projects totaling 13.7 trillion won, including Gadeokdo New Airport, National Route 45 Yongin Idong–Namdong, and Hyeongsan River maintenance.
The integrity workshop was held with about 200 review commissioners in attendance and proceeded in the following order: commendations for outstanding members of the 15th-term design review subcommittee, awarding of appointment letters and integrity pledges for the 16th-term commissioners, an introduction to the 2026 design review subcommittee operation plan, and integrity training.
In particular, Prosecutor Jo Jong-min from the Daejeon District Prosecutors' Office was invited to provide integrity training focused on case studies, covering the realities of corruption in the construction sector and the penalties imposed, based on investigative experience.