Government plans to sell or rent its unused land

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Government plans to sell or rent its unused land

The government plans to sell or rent vacant, unused land it owns to become more market driven.

The Ministry of Strategy and Finance on Monday said it will lift the development ban on 646 government-owned plots of land, even without specific future plans. The combined area of the land is 1.4 million square meters and it is estimated to be worth 158.7 billion won.

The decision includes 585 properties owned by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, covering 1.32 million square meters and worth 156.7 trillion won, and 61 properties under the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, which cover 85,901 square meters and are valued at 19.3 billion won.

The state-run Korea Asset Management Corporation (Kamco) will assess whether the plots will be used for administrative purposes, rented to the public sector, or put up for sale.

The government said it also plans to conduct a field investigation in the first half on other government-owned properties that might be suitable for development.

“Some have raised the need of creating new value on government property management, which received less public interest, compared to tax revenue and government debt,” said Song Eon-seok, strategy and finance vice minister.

“When we are on the edge of greeting an era of government property value exceeding 1,000 trillion won, we need to make changes in the government property management paradigm so it would be more market driven.”

Song stressed the need for closer cooperation between the government and the private sector in developing related policies. As of last year, government-owned properties were valued at 990.3 trillion won, the ministry said.

The government also announced plans to create construction guidelines for all government departments to raise the quality of public buildings.

The guideline plan follows criticism that government buildings lacked quality because there were no standards. leading to constant changes of blueprints for construction.

The ministry said it will create a government-private sector review committee that will draft measures on construction and the management of public buildings, which could be implemented next year.

The ministry also said it will make improvements on related regulations that will allow the government to exercise its shareholders rights on companies it has invested in. A basic study on the issue will be made by September.


BY LEE HO-JEONG [lee.hojeong@joongang.co.kr]






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