A Building Frame is Left Standing Year after Year

This is a construction site of a Ganam Bombit apartment building in Taepyeong-ri, Ganam-myeon, Yeoju-gun, Gyeonggi-do on October 3.

Weeds are surrounding a 17-story building, propped up only by frames, and the yellow vinyl that usually covers construction sites has been torn out, completely revealing the interior of the construction site. Construction materials are scattered everywhere and metal facilities such as gas pipes are rusting.

Construction of the building began in October 1998 and was scheduled to be completed by the end of 2000. About 75 percent of the construction has been finished.

However, construction company “L” stopped construction in March 2001 because of financial pressure caused by low sales. In June 2003, they resumed construction, but stopped it again after five months.

“Each puddle is filled with rainwater and due to the weak ground, the structure is very likely to collapse at anytime. On top of that, this site has degenerated into a hotbed of juvenile delinquency,” said Jeong, 38, who lives near the site.

Throughout the nation, construction sites such as this one are numerous. According to the Ministry of Construction and Transportation, as of June, the number of construction sites that have been postponed for more than one year is 843, including 397 apartments.

The economic depression seems to be playing a crucial role. The decline of the real estate market caused low sales and financial pressure that caused most construction companies to stop projects they were working on. A vicious circle arises.

More importantly, most of the abandoned construction projects are mid- and small-sized buildings with less than 10,000 square meters of floor area and, in the case of apartments, with floor spaces of less than 25.7 pyong, which were financed by the national housing fund. Therefore, these abandoned construction projects are directly influencing common people in a negative way.

As of August, among construction projects financed by the national housing fund, 97 apartment complexes (46,135 households) have either been postponed or abandoned by bankrupt companies. The sum funneled into these projects amounts to 418.1 billion won.

An official from Kookmin Bank said, “Since we obligate construction companies to present a mortgage before injecting funds, in the event that the companies go bankrupt, we do not lose the principal. However, we have to resign ourselves to interest losses and other damages caused by the delay in construction.”

In response, an official from the Ministry of Construction and Transportation said, “If companies do not start construction for two years after approval, the government can intervene by withdrawing approval. However, once construction starts, we have no control over construction resumption except to formally encourage companies to do so.”

The ministry official also added, “A revision of the construction law that would levy funds, tentatively named ‘deposits for environmental improvements,’ on constructors of buildings with over 5,000 square meters of floor area is being examined. This money could be spent managing the nearby environment around abandoned construction sites and preventing possible building collapses.”

Jae-Myoung Lee egija@donga.com