Seoul to Curb Arbitrary Delays in District Urban Improvement Projects... Standardizes Approval Process

Designation of Public Project Implementers and Designated Developers
"30-Day Processing Deadline" Introduced and Implemented
Legal Amendments Proposed to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport

The Seoul Metropolitan Government will standardize the administrative processing criteria that have varied across districts during the approval process for urban improvement projects and establish clear standards for procedures that have been delayed because no statutory deadlines were set. It will set deadlines of 30 days for designating project implementers and 10 days for consultations with relevant agencies, and limit repeated requests for supplementary documents to a maximum of two rounds to reduce unnecessary administrative delays.

Seoul City Hall CI. The Asia Business Daily database

On October 27, the Seoul Metropolitan Government announced that it had established a plan to standardize administrative processing criteria for urban improvement projects and would distribute it to relevant city departments and all 25 district offices for immediate implementation in the field.

To address unreasonable administrative practices at district offices, the Seoul Metropolitan Government will use the 30-day deadline for processing applications to establish housing redevelopment and reconstruction associations as the benchmark and introduce and apply a processing deadline of "within 30 days" for designating public project implementers and designated developers, such as trust companies.

The Seoul Metropolitan Government has formally asked the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport to explicitly stipulate a 30-day processing deadline in relevant laws, including the Act on the Improvement of Urban Areas and Residential Environments.

Procedures for consultations between departments will also be improved when applications for approval are received. Upon receipt, the agenda will be sent at once to all relevant agencies and departments, and public inspection and consultations will proceed in parallel. As a rule, applications may not be delayed or refused on the grounds that a preliminary review or an in-person report has not been completed.

The consultation period with relevant agencies will be standardized at no more than 10 days, with a one-time extension of up to five days permitted. In particular, the "deemed consultation system" will be actively applied: if no response is received by the deadline and no extension is requested, the agency will be deemed to have "no comments (approval as originally proposed)," allowing subsequent procedures to proceed.

A deadline of no more than 10 days will be granted for submitting supplementary materials, and the number of requests for supplementary materials will be limited to a maximum of two.

If consultations are prolonged for 10 days or more because relevant departments or higher-level agencies hold conflicting views, a "meeting to resolve differences of opinion on urban improvement projects," chaired by the district office's or Seoul Metropolitan Government's "fair process promotion officer," will be convened to quickly resolve the differences.

Myeong Nojun, head of the Seoul Metropolitan Government's Housing Office, said, "Standardizing administrative processing criteria for urban improvement projects will reduce differences in administrative practices among districts and create a more predictable environment for these projects." He added, "We will continue to actively identify and address unnecessary causes of administrative delays to ensure that housing is supplied promptly."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.