Seoul City 'Mullyu Jeongchaekgwa' Established, Urban Advanced Logistics Complex Development Gains Momentum

Seoul City Organization Restructuring Plan Includes New Logistics Policy Division; Focus on Urban Advanced Logistics Complex Development at Yangjaedong Korean Cargo Terminal Site and Yangcheon-gu Sinjeongdong Western Truck Terminal Site

Site of the Korean Freight Terminal in Yangjae-dong, Seocho-gu

[Asia Economy Reporter Jong-il Park] Seoul City is expected to gain momentum in the creation of urban high-tech logistics complexes by establishing a Logistics Policy Division through an organizational restructuring that supports Mayor Oh Se-hoon's administration.

On the 17th, Seoul City submitted the 'Seoul City Government Organizational Restructuring Plan' to the Seoul City Council. The council's Secretariat received it, and Chairman Kim In-ho approved it, forwarding it to the Planning and Economy Committee (Chairman Chae In-mook), the responsible standing committee, on the 18th.

Thus, the organizational restructuring plan, which has been discussed since Mayor Oh Se-hoon's inauguration, has been passed to the city council for full-scale discussion. Among the restructuring plans, a Logistics Policy Division will be newly established under the Urban Transportation Office (Head Baek Ho, Grade 1), responsible for tasks such as the construction of urban high-tech logistics complexes and the installation of living logistics support centers.

Accordingly, the creation of urban high-tech logistics complexes, currently being promoted on sites such as the cargo terminal site in Yangjae-dong, Seocho-gu, an essential urban infrastructure in the non-face-to-face era, is expected to gain further momentum. The urban high-tech logistics complexes, introduced to support logistics within the city as well as to foster and promote logistics, distribution, and related industries, can only be designated and approved according to the procedures stipulated by the Logistics Facilities Act (Act on the Development and Operation of Logistics Facilities).

Nevertheless, Seoul City has been criticized for revealing administrative confusion and delaying the handling of civil complaints by applying the district unit planning establishment and amendment procedures under the National Land Planning and Utilization Act (National Land Planning and Utilization Act), which cannot designate the two sites selected as pilot complexes for urban high-tech logistics complex development projects as urban high-tech logistics complexes.

According to Seoul City and related industries on the 18th, the urban high-tech logistics complex development projects promoted by Harim Industry and Seobu T&D on the Korean Cargo Terminal site in Yangjae-dong, Seocho-gu, and the Seobu Truck Terminal site in Sinjeong-dong, Yangcheon-gu, have been assigned to the Facilities Planning Division, the department responsible for urban planning projects, to handle tasks such as reviewing letters of intent (plans) and have partially proceeded with urban planning (district unit plan establishment and amendment) procedures under the National Land Planning Act.

However, the Logistics Facilities Act stipulates that the designation and project implementation approval procedures for urban high-tech logistics complexes should follow the Industrial Complex Procedure Simplification Act (Special Act on Simplification of Industrial Complex Permitting Procedures). It has been pointed out that if procedures under the National Land Planning Act are followed, designation and project approval as an urban high-tech logistics complex are impossible.

Therefore, Seoul City has been criticized for neglecting the essence of creating urban high-tech logistics complexes while handling related civil complaints and focusing only on the formality of managing urban planning facilities, applying laws and procedures that prevent designation as an urban high-tech logistics complex.

The designation and approval procedures for urban high-tech logistics complexes stipulated by the Industrial Complex Procedure Simplification Act are as follows: submission of a letter of intent by the private project implementer, support and consultation including provision of data by the support center, preparation and submission of the urban high-tech logistics complex plan (draft), public announcement and hearing of opinions from residents, consultation with related agencies, adjustment and consultation of disagreements through an integrated coordination meeting, preparation of a technical review report, review by the integrated review committee, and approval and notification.

Regarding the Yangjae Cargo Terminal site, selected as a pilot complex in 2016 (applied by Seoul City and selected by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport), Harim Industry, the developer, requested the creation of an urban high-tech logistics complex. However, Seoul City initially pursued applying the district unit plan amendment method to establish an R&D-centered development plan, citing an internal policy to create an R&D innovation hub in Yangjae. After Harim Industry's opposition, the city switched to the urban high-tech logistics complex development project method and is proceeding with related procedures.

In particular, for the Seobu Truck Terminal in Yangcheon-gu, one of the pilot complexes (designated as an automobile terminal facility in urban planning), the Facilities Planning Division has been the lead department since early 2019, conducting individual review procedures similar to general urban planning projects, including preliminary consultation on the district unit plan (draft), feedback on review opinions, advisory from the actual demand verification committee, and pre-advisory from the Urban Architecture Joint Committee subcommittee. During this process, floor area ratio and public contribution rates were preliminarily consulted, and the procedures stipulated by the Logistics Facilities Act were not properly applied.

The Seoul City Urban Planning Bureau has been criticized for falling into contradiction by promoting the urban high-tech logistics complex development project at the Seobu Truck Terminal while mixing the procedures applied under Article 59-2 of the Logistics Facilities Act with the legally impossible district unit plan establishment procedures under the National Land Planning Act. Accordingly, it is known that since last year, the Seobu Truck Terminal site has been re-following the procedures stipulated by the Logistics Facilities Act, such as preparing the urban high-tech logistics complex plan and review by the integrated review committee.

The reason for requiring the designation and project approval of urban high-tech logistics complexes to go through the integrated review committee under the Logistics Facilities Act and the Industrial Complex Procedure Simplification Act is to collectively install facilities that can achieve purposes such as urban living logistics processing, convergence of logistics and distribution industries, fostering and development of related industries, and to enable these facilities to interact and create synergy through convergence with 4th Industrial Revolution technologies.

Dr. Kwon Hyuk-gu, an urban high-tech logistics expert at the Korea Transport Institute, stated at a forum hosted by the Seoul City Council Urban Planning Management Committee (Chairman Kim Hee-geol) on the 30th of last month, “General logistics complexes can also have logistics upstream support facilities in a three-dimensional manner, and some related industries can converge. However, whether they can converge with 4th Industrial Revolution technologies and whether logistics upstream support facilities and related industries have substantial links to create synergy through interaction is a different matter,” adding, “This is the reason for introducing the urban high-tech logistics complex system.” He also emphasized, “Designation and permitting of urban high-tech logistics complexes must go through integrated review under the Logistics Facilities Act and the Industrial Complex Procedure Simplification Act, and if individual review procedures under the National Land Planning Act are followed, it is not legally an urban high-tech logistics complex.”

Urban high-tech logistics complexes are a newly introduced system following the 2016 amendment of the Logistics Facilities Act, which distinguishes existing logistics complexes into urban high-tech logistics complexes and general logistics complexes, requiring separate development procedures such as separate facilities, complex development, and simplified permitting procedures under the Industrial Complex Procedure Simplification Act.

However, the Seoul City Urban Planning Bureau has been in charge of handling complaints related to urban high-tech logistics complex development projects for over three years since 2018, applying incorrect laws and changing departments. Although the mayor's policy clarified the confusion at the end of June last year, the bureau still argues that development must be within the permissible range of the Yangjae residential district unit plan, which contradicts the purpose of introducing urban high-tech logistics complexes and legal regulations.

Harim Industry, promoting the urban high-tech logistics complex development project on the Yangjae site, stated, “Since submitting the second letter of intent in accordance with the Seoul Mayor's policy decided at the end of June 2020, there has been no particular progress,” adding, “We are preparing applications for urban high-tech logistics complex plan approval and other documents to obtain designation and project permits for urban high-tech logistics complexes according to relevant laws, mayoral policies, and Seoul City ordinances.”

At the forum held on the 30th of last month, Harim Industry presented six major visions for the Yangjae urban high-tech logistics complex development project: fundamental elimination of delivery waste generation, 100% recycling of food waste, clean energy transportation, safe and pleasant workplaces for delivery workers, an incubator for advanced convergence industries, and a bridge for win-win development between rural and urban areas and small and medium enterprises. Harim Industry stated at the forum hosted by the Seoul City Council Urban Planning Management Committee that it aims to contribute to raising Seoul City's urban competitiveness by changing the logistics distribution paradigm and providing momentum for fostering new industries through the creation of essential urban infrastructure in the non-face-to-face economic era.

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