Seoul city aims to shorten redevelopment projects to 12 years

Seoul City is implementing new measures to shorten the duration of reconstruction and redevelopment projects from 18 years to 12 years.

The city intends to break ground on 310,000 housing units by 2031 by standardizing administrative procedures across its 25 autonomous districts. The city plans to unify permit standards to eliminate administrative bottlenecks. Officials will now require the designation of project developers within 30 days and mandate that consultations with relevant agencies be completed within 10 days.

If agencies do not respond within these timeframes, the city will treat the lack of response as an absence of objection. The city also plans to limit the time for document corrections to 10 days and will hold separate coordination meetings to resolve disputes between different departments. Seoul City is also addressing unfair contract practices in small-scale housing projects.

After analyzing 45 project contracts from three construction companies, the city found that while fees were set at 2.0% to 2.8% of total sales, none of the contracts specified the calculation criteria for total sales. The city is requesting a law amendment from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and will establish standard agreements next month. To resolve ongoing conflicts over construction costs, the city opened a construction cost center on August 21.

This center provides a pool of 33 experts, including lawyers and urban planning specialists, to mediate disputes and verify cost increases. While these measures aim to speed up housing supply, officials noted that variables such as resident consent, project profitability, and financial conditions still remain.