Yeouido Hanyang Apartment, Construction Company Selection Ultimately 'Postponed'

Seoul City Warns of Legal Action if Construction Company Selection Proceeds
Hanyang Apartment Reconstruction Side "Accepts Seoul City's Recommendation"

The selection of the construction company for Hanyang Apartment in Yeouido, scheduled for the 29th, has ultimately been postponed. As the Seoul Metropolitan Government expressed a firm stance to take legal action according to relevant laws if the selection process is forcibly carried out, the Hanyang Apartment Reconstruction Maintenance Project Steering Committee and the project implementer, KB Real Estate Trust, decided to accept Seoul's recommendation.

On the 19th, the Hanyang Apartment Reconstruction Maintenance Project Steering Committee (hereinafter referred to as the Steering Committee) and KB Real Estate Trust held a meeting regarding Seoul's "recommendation for corrective action on illegal matters during the construction company selection process" and announced that "the general meeting for selecting the construction company will be postponed."

The Steering Committee and KB Real Estate Trust explained that they made this decision due to concerns that rejecting the recommendation from the competent authority could lead to invalidation of the construction company selection results, accusations, investigation requests, and subsequent project delays.

Earlier, Seoul requested Yeongdeungpo District Office to take corrective action under Article 113 of the "Urban and Residential Environment Maintenance Act" regarding illegal matters during the construction company selection process for the Yeouido Hanyang Apartment Reconstruction Maintenance Project. This came two days after issuing administrative guidance on the 17th to investigate whether there were any violations of the maintenance plan during the selection process.

View of Hanyang Apartment in Yeouido. Photo by Jo Yongjun jun21@

Seoul determined that KB Real Estate Trust, as the project implementer, included land without authority in the project area when selecting the construction company and violated Article 29, Paragraph 6 of the "Urban and Residential Environment Maintenance Act" and Articles 10, 11, and 29 of the "Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Maintenance Project Contract Handling Standards" by issuing the bid announcement without following the maintenance plan.

Seoul also stated that if the project implementer forcibly proceeds with the construction company selection despite the corrective order, legal action will be taken according to relevant laws. If the investigation by authorities confirms the charges, those who selected the construction company in violation of regulations and those selected as the construction company may face imprisonment of up to three years or a fine of up to 30 million KRW. Failure to comply with the corrective order may result in imprisonment of up to two years or a fine of up to 20 million KRW.

Seoul emphasized, "As demonstrated in the Apgujeong 3 District case, we establish the principle of promoting transparent maintenance projects through fair competition in the selection process of designers and constructors, and will continue to improve systems in areas that are insufficient."

Meanwhile, KB Real Estate Trust, the project implementer, and bidding participants such as Hyundai Engineering & Construction and POSCO E&C have not hidden their bewilderment at Seoul's strong response. It is expected that Seoul, KB Real Estate Trust, and bidding participants (Hyundai Engineering & Construction, POSCO E&C) will go through coordination, but proceeding with the construction company selection process within this year also appears difficult.

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