Minor Changes to Industrial Complex Plans in Gyeonggi Province to Speed Up Review Process Through System Improvements

[Suwon Ilbo=Park No-hun Reporter] Going forward, in Gyeonggi Province, minor changes to industrial complex plans—such as construction of new intersections in certain areas of industrial complexes—are expected to undergo even faster review procedures.

Gyeonggi Province announced "Operational Improvement Measures for the Local Industrial Complex Plan Review Committee During Minor Changes to Industrial Complex Plans" and stated on the 23rd that it will begin full implementation starting April this year.

The Local Industrial Complex Plan Review Committee is a committee established in metropolitan cities and provinces under the "Special Act for Streamlining Approval and Licensing Procedures for Industrial Complexes" to shorten industrial complex development procedures. It is a system that integrates processing through seven individual committees including urban planning, traffic impact assessment, and forestry management.

Previously, all industrial complex plans—whether initial approval, major changes, or minor changes—had to go through in-person review. As a result, contrary to the intent of the special act to shorten procedures, swift processing was difficult due to schedule coordination and pre-screening procedures.

In particular, for minor changes that do not significantly impact the overall industrial complex plan, although they are in principle not subject to review by the Local Industrial Complex Plan Review Committee, matters requiring individual committee review had to proceed with in-person review.

Accordingly, the Province has adopted and implemented this system improvement measure to skip pre-screening procedures and swiftly process matters that require individual committee review through "written review" rather than in-person review when dealing with minor changes.

This is to promote more expedited approval and licensing administrative procedures, as industrial complex plans have significant impacts on local economies and job creation.

The applicable scope includes minor change matters excluding: ①changes of 10% or more to total area, ②changes to major targeted industries, ③changes of 10% or more to total area for each facility in land use plans, ④changes of 50% or more in scale for waste treatment facilities, etc.

For example, when industrial complex plans are changed by adding or reducing roads or intersections within a range of 10% or less of the total road facility area, such cases would be subject to re-review by the Traffic Impact Assessment Committee, one of the individual committees. Now, however, they can be processed swiftly through written review without the need for in-person review procedures.

With this system improvement, industrial complex plan change approval review procedures that previously took up to approximately 30 days are expected to be shortened to within one week. However, the policy is to conduct review with the same rigor as before to ensure there are no issues in future industrial complex operations.

A provincial official stated, "This system improvement is a measure to uphold the original intent of the special act to simplify approval and licensing procedures and promote smooth progress of industrial complex development projects," and added, "We plan to continue identifying ways to improve industrial complex approval and licensing procedures for swift processing."