Gyeonggi Province Welcomes Dramatic Resolution of GTX-C Line Construction Cost Dispute

Full Administrative Support for Rapid Opening

Accelerated Action Including Obstacle Relocation by Late April

Strengthening City and County Cooperation for Maximum Effort

Gyeonggi Province has expressed its strong welcome to the recent resolution of the construction cost increase issue for the Metropolitan Express Railway (GTX) Line C through arbitration by the Korean Commercial Arbitration Board. The province announced that it will provide full administrative support for the project.

Gyeonggi Province Office building. Courtesy of Gyeonggi Province

According to Gyeonggi Province on April 2, the Korean Commercial Arbitration Board issued a partial decision to increase the construction costs for the GTX-C Line on April 1, following an arbitration request submitted by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.

The Korean Commercial Arbitration Board is a non-profit incorporated association established with the approval of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and is the only statutory arbitration institution in Korea under the Arbitration Act. Private experts in relevant fields serve as arbitrators and make final decisions in a single instance. Arbitration awards carry the same legal effect as court rulings.

Although the groundbreaking ceremony for the GTX-C Line was held in January 2024, the project faced issues due to a sharp rise in material and labor costs. To address these challenges, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport requested arbitration from the Korean Commercial Arbitration Board late last year regarding the construction cost dispute of the GTX-C Line.

With the decision to increase the total project cost, Gyeonggi Province expects that the biggest obstacle to the project has been completely removed, allowing for the full-scale push forward of the GTX-C Line project.

As a result of this arbitration, the increase in the total project cost will require amendments to the implementation agreement. However, as the project has already experienced significant delays, the project operator plans to immediately begin on-site work, such as relocating obstacles and installing fences, as early as the end of this month, independently of administrative procedures.

In line with this, Gyeonggi Province plans to hold a working-level consultative meeting on April 10 with cities and counties, the National Railroad Authority, and private sector partners. At this meeting, participants will focus on discussing not only ways to expedite permit and approval processes for the sections the line passes through, but also securing budgets and proactively managing complaints from the field, which are a primary cause of construction delays, to ensure rapid progress of the project.

Choo Dae-woon, Director of the Railroad, Port and Logistics Division of Gyeonggi Province, said, "Gyeonggi Province has also made efforts to resolve the construction cost conflict by repeatedly visiting the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and persistently bringing practical issues and solutions to the table. Going forward, we will not only provide full administrative support but also work on the ground instead of just monitoring the situation, to ensure swift progress of the project."

Meanwhile, once the GTX-C Line, which connects Deokjeong Station in Yangju to Suwon Station over a total distance of 86.46 kilometers, is opened, travel times from Deokjeong in Yangju to Samseong Station in Seoul, and from Suwon to Samseong Station, will be drastically reduced to around 20 minutes each.

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