LH "If the public implements development projects, the speed will be faster and corruption will be reduced."

When the Seoul Metropolitan Government criticized the speed of public redevelopment projects and the lack of construction start results, Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH) responded again.

In a reference material distributed to the media on the 8th, LH pointed out that there are factual differences in Seoul City's recent claims regarding public redevelopment and emphasized the benefits of public redevelopment.

Previously, in a press release distributed on the 5th, the Seoul Metropolitan Government took issue with the fact that there has been no construction start since the introduction of public redevelopment in 2020, saying, “Just because it is implemented by the public does not guarantee the speed and feasibility of the project.”

In addition, he pointed out that public redevelopment also incurs a significant amount of project management fees, and that three candidate sites for public redevelopment have been canceled and some areas are being converted to private redevelopment.

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon also took aim at President Lee in a post posted on Facebook on the 4th, saying, "Get away from the all-powerful theory of public development and first listen to the voices of residents who are eagerly awaiting redevelopment."

Accordingly, LH said, "The public redevelopment project promoted by LH in 22 districts in the metropolitan area with a scale of 39,000 households is being carried out as planned, taking 5 years from zone designation to construction start. Construction is scheduled to begin sequentially, starting with the start of construction in the new district 1 in 2027." He then refuted, “If the public implements it, the speed will be faster and the possibility of corruption will be reduced.”

LH presented statistics showing that about 350 cases of corruption occurred in private maintenance projects from July 2003 to September 2023, and claimed, "Private unions frequently experience project delays due to bribery, donations, construction cost disputes, lawsuits, etc., but LH transparently discloses the details of project cost execution, including residents' operating funds, and there is no possibility of corruption occurring."

He then cited the case of Jangwi District 9, Seongbuk-gu, Seoul, which President Lee visited, and emphasized the advantages of public redevelopment, saying, "Compared to private redevelopment, it is possible to increase the floor area ratio, so the number of homes for sale increases by more than 200 households, and residents' contributions are reduced by more than 50 million won per household, but the ratio of public contribution housing is at a similar level."

He also said, "Private cooperatives manage the project through service providers, but LH receives a minimum fee (3% of the project cost) and has professional employees directly manage the entire project, including design review, construction cost estimation, and construction management, to reduce project costs." He added, "We plan to drastically reduce the fee to 1% of the project cost starting from new areas in the future."

In addition, he added, “There are cases where residents themselves canceled two public redevelopment candidate sites due to conflicts between residents, but no areas were converted to private redevelopment.”

LH said, "We will do our best to supply as many houses as possible for one generation as quickly as possible while minimizing the burden on residents through reinforcement of manpower and accumulated experience."