Mayor Shin Sangjin: "Bundang Reconstruction for 13,429 Homes Hit a Snag... Ministry Holding It Back"

Seongnam City Pushes Back Against Ministry Notice Requiring Traffic Impact Assessment Before Zone Designation
"Belated Traffic Impact Assessment" Draws Strong Criticism
Concern That Zone Designation for 13,429 Homes Will Be Delayed Beyond This Year
"Knock-On Impact Could Extend to Next Year's Maintenance Projects"
Calls for Review of Assessment Timing and Measures to Protect Residents

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport has belatedly notified Seongnam City that a traffic impact assessment must be conducted before Bundang is designated as a special maintenance zone for reconstruction, prompting the city to push back.

Seongnam Mayor Shin Sangjin. Courtesy of Seongnam City.

Seongnam Mayor Shin Sangjin said he was concerned that the designation of zones for 13,429 homes by the end of the year could be delayed, criticizing the move as “a contradictory administrative decision that runs counter to the government’s push to accelerate housing supply.”

On the 27th, Mayor Shin said, “The Lee Jae-myung administration is emphasizing a race to accelerate housing supply to ease the housing shortage in the Seoul metropolitan area. Yet the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, which should be supporting housing supply, is suddenly insisting on a traffic impact assessment and holding up Bundang’s reconstruction.” He added, “It is hard to understand this administrative decision: the government says it will speed up housing supply while blocking the schedule.”

According to Seongnam City, the ministry sent a notice this month to Gyeonggi Province and five cities with first-generation new towns: Seongnam, Bucheon, Gunpo, Goyang and Anyang. The notice said that if a district-unit plan is established or amended alongside the designation of a special maintenance zone, a traffic impact assessment must be conducted before the zone is designated if certain requirements are met.

The city said it received no such separate notice when it pursued the pilot zones last year, and that the special maintenance zones were designated without a traffic impact assessment.

Seongnam City is concerned that the assessment process will take at least an additional three to four months, potentially pushing into next year the schedule for designating and publicly announcing zones for 13,429 homes, which it is pursuing this year. The city said this could also cause a knock-on delay in designating the 10,000 homes scheduled for maintenance next year, due to the annual limit on the volume of maintenance projects.

Mayor Shin Sangjin said, “The efforts of residents who have been preparing for this year’s zone designations are at risk of going to waste. If this year’s allocation is pushed into next year, residents preparing for reconstruction next year will also suffer a knock-on impact.”

He added, “Is it responsible administration to offer a new interpretation only now, just before the designation and public announcement of special maintenance zones for 13,429 homes in the second round, after providing no guidance last year?” He criticized the government, saying, “Citizens who have done nothing wrong are suffering major harm from government guidelines that change every time.”

A view of Bundang New Town. Courtesy of Seongnam City.

Seongnam City maintains that the traffic impact assessment should be conducted before approval of the project implementation plan, rather than at the special maintenance zone designation stage. It bases its position on the deemed authorization and permission provisions of the Framework Act on Administration and previous interpretations by the Ministry of Government Legislation.

Mayor Shin Sangjin said, “What would be gained by rushing a traffic impact assessment at a stage when detailed building plans and vehicle access routes have not yet been finalized, in terms of actually resolving traffic problems?” He added, “It is more reasonable to develop effective traffic measures before approval of the project implementation plan, when the project plans have become more concrete.”

Mayor Shin submitted a letter to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport calling for a review of the timing of the assessment and measures to prevent harm to residents.

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