Gyeonggi Province Implements First 'Construction Equipment Lease Contract Verification System' Among Metropolitan Governments

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Kim Gap-dong] Starting now, for construction projects commissioned by Gyeonggi Province, the province will directly verify construction equipment lease contracts.

On June 5th, Gyeonggi Province held a consultation meeting at the Pogok-eup Administrative Welfare Center in Yongin City to create 'Gyeonggi Province without wage arrears in construction projects' and announced system improvement measures containing these details.

This system improvement follows the signing of a business agreement in March between Gyeonggi Province, the Ministry of Employment and Labor, and related construction organizations. In subsequent consultation meetings, construction equipment industry representatives requested improvements, noting that disadvantages such as wage arrears were occurring as construction projects proceeded verbally without clear contracts regarding equipment rental agreements.

In response, the province held an idea meeting to develop improvement measures. Under the new system, construction equipment business operators will submit contracts containing rental agreement details to the commissioning party, and the province will serve as a mediator by directly verifying the contracts to prevent dispute factors from arising, implementing customer-oriented field policies.

The province will first apply the system improvement to Yongin's Geum-eocheon flood-prone area improvement project, then analyze its strengths and weaknesses. Next year, the province plans to expand the construction equipment lease contract verification system to all government-funded construction projects across the province.

Additionally, the province held a session explaining recently prepared guidelines on preventing wage arrears in construction projects. Gyeonggi Province prepared guidelines such as issuing wage payment confirmation documents at contract, billing, and payment stages, which have been distributed to each city and county.

Oh Hoo-seok, Vice Governor for Administration at Gyeonggi Province, stated: "Wage arrears in construction projects have traditionally been characterized by post-hoc administrative measures, but going forward we are pursuing a paradigm shift toward preventive policies," and added, "We expect active cooperation between the private and public sectors to prevent wage arrears in construction projects."

Wage arrears at construction sites, unpaid construction equipment rental fees, illegal subcontracting, and other unfair practices by general construction companies located in the province can be reported to the 'Subcontracting Irregularity Reporting Center' (Gyeonggi Province website > Civil complaints > Subcontracting irregularity reporting) or the Gyeonggi Province Construction Policy Division (031-8030-3842~4, 8).

Meanwhile, the consultation meeting was attended by approximately 50 people including Gyeonggi Province Assembly Members Kim Young-min, Kang Woong-chul, and Lee Young-hee, as well as representatives from Gyeonggi Province construction organizations, the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, the Democratic Labor Federation, and the Construction Equipment Individual Business Operator Council.