Nowon-gu Mayor Oh Seung-rok Requests Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Minister to Ease Reconstruction Safety Inspections

On the 13th, a housing policy cooperation meeting was held between Seoul's autonomous districts (Nowon-gu, Songpa-gu, Yangcheon-gu) and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport... Nowon-gu ranks first in Seoul for the most reconstruction safety inspections... Calls to revise safety inspection standards reflecting reality to improve trust in government housing policy

Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Noh Hyung-wook (right), Nowon District Mayor Oh Seung-rok (far left), Yangcheon District Mayor Kim Soo-young (center left), and Songpa District Mayor Park Sung-soo held a meeting to discuss easing reconstruction safety inspections.

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jong-il] On the 13th, Oh Seung-rok, Mayor of Nowon District, met with Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Noh Hyung-wook to propose easing the safety inspection criteria for apartment reconstruction.

At the ‘Policy Cooperation Meeting between Seoul Autonomous Districts (Nowon, Yangcheon, Songpa) and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport’ held that day, Mayor Oh stated that since the Taereung Woosung Apartment, which was progressing the fastest among reconstruction projects, was finally rejected in the feasibility review last July, residents of other reconstruction complexes are also experiencing growing dissatisfaction and anxiety.

As of 2020, Nowon District leads Seoul with 39 complexes and 59,124 households subject to reconstruction safety inspections (over 30 years old). Currently, 46.5% of multi-family housing in Nowon District is subject to reconstruction safety inspections, and it is expected to reach 88.44% (112,320 households) by 2030.

Due to apartment aging, conflicts among residents caused by fire safety and insulation weaknesses, inter-floor noise, aging water pipes, and parking shortages are continuously increasing.

There are currently 23 apartment complexes in the area pursuing reconstruction. Since 2017, safety inspection requests for reconstruction have been received and inspections have been conducted sequentially; however, difficulties have arisen since the ‘Reconstruction Safety Inspection Standards’ were revised in March 2018. In fact, out of 19 feasibility reviews conducted after March 2018, only 4 complexes passed.

The difficulty in passing the feasibility review is due to changes in the weighting of evaluation criteria. Compared to before 2018, the structural safety standard was strengthened from 20% to 50%, while residential environment factors (parking spaces, inter-floor noise) were reduced from 40% to 15%, and equipment aging (water pipes, electrical wiring) was lowered from 30% to 25%.

The district government has twice (March 2018 and August 2020) requested the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport to adjust the weighting of safety inspection criteria so that factors greatly affecting living standards, such as parking and inter-floor noise, can be sufficiently reflected.

The proposals mainly consist of three points. First, improving quality of life. Although the purpose of apartment reconstruction includes not only structural safety but also providing residents with a pleasant living environment, current regulations fail to reflect the significant decline in residents’ quality of life caused by parking difficulties and aging facilities such as water pipes.

They also requested improvements to the current safety inspection procedures. If a reconstruction safety inspection fails, the entire procedure must be restarted from the request stage, causing residents to bear additional inspection costs. Therefore, the district suggests either re-conducting or supplementing the safety inspection based on the previously conducted inspection to ensure efficient use of costs.

Lastly, to secure fairness and objectivity, they requested consideration of separating the current advisory committee (subcommittee) into an independent organization and composing it with external members.

Mayor Oh Seung-rok said, “Changes in reconstruction safety inspection standards are infringing on residents’ right to happy housing,” and added, “We will do our best to ensure that the safety inspection standards are improved in a reasonable direction to enhance residents’ quality of life through better living environments.”

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