Reservoir Facility Five Times the Size of Yeouido, Parking Building Construction Now Possible

Regulatory Adjudication Division Recommends Ministry of Land to Improve Regulations Allowing Construction of 'Parking-Only Buildings' in Water Facilities

Regulations will be eased to allow the construction of parking-only buildings on water retention facilities covering an area approximately five times the size of Yeouido (a total of 14,398,708㎡).

On the 21st, the Regulatory Scrutiny Department of the Prime Minister's Office recommended the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport to improve the system to enable the construction of "parking-only buildings" on water retention facilities located in low-lying river areas.

Water retention facilities temporarily store rainwater and release it into rivers to prevent urban flooding. They are mainly located in low-lying areas inside river embankments. However, until now, the construction of parking-only buildings has been restricted to maintain their disaster prevention function.

However, as parking shortages have worsened, there have been continuous demands to improve regulations to allow the construction of multi-story parking buildings utilizing water retention facilities. Currently, there are a total of 685 water retention facilities nationwide. The construction of buildings utilizing water retention facilities is also actively used in advanced countries such as Japan.

The Regulatory Scrutiny Department recommended the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport to allow the construction of parking-only buildings while maintaining the disaster prevention function of water retention facilities.

Specifically, it recommended improving related systems to enable the construction of parking-only buildings on water retention facilities to alleviate chronic parking shortages.

It also requested system improvements so that local governments can systematically maintain and improve the disaster prevention functions of water retention facilities and establish safety measures to prepare for heavy rainfall.

Furthermore, to maintain the disaster prevention function of water retention facilities, it recommended ensuring that the water retention capacity is maintained at or above the level before building construction and sufficiently installing disaster prevention facilities considering the possibility of disasters.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport plans to accept the Regulatory Scrutiny Department's recommendations and improve related laws and regulations. The Office for Government Policy Coordination plans to monitor and support the progress.

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