Reconstruction Rules

[Anchor Lead]

The government begins enforcing tougher reconstruction safety inspection measures Monday after a 10-day administrative notice. The new regulations ensure that apartment complexes due for reconstruction are overseen by more stringent standards. However, the rules will be flexible, as more consideration will be added to apartments with serious parking issues.

[Pkg]

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport said that the new set of safety inspection measures for old apartment buildings due for reconstruction are in effect starting today. The new regulations were announced on February 21st. Starting today, apartment complexes that request safety diagnoses will be governed by the new standards. The key to the revised standards lies in adjusting the weight of each safety inspection item. For instance, structural integrity's weight has been raised to 50% from 20%, while that of residential environment has been lowered from 40% to 15%. Until now, apartment compounds with bad residential environments, like insufficient parking spaces, were approved for reconstruction, even though there were no serious issues with structural integrity. With the enforcement of the new regulations, however, it won't be easy for such apartment buildings to be rebuilt. The government, however, reviewed the petitions and boosted the possibility of reconstruction by giving more weight to old apartments with exceptionally bad residential environments, such as a severe lack of parking spaces or access roads too narrow for fire trucks. Given the protests from old apartment buildings, the government apparently compromised by establishing a special weight distribution system. However, the Ministry made it clear that it is determined to implement the new safety diagnosis standards to restore the regulations' original purpose.