Lee Seong-hoon, the president of the Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH), stated on October 12 that he will take comprehensive measures to ensure the recovery of damages from companies involved in bid-rigging for construction supervision contracts.
During a National Assembly audit by the Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee, Lee responded to a request from Democratic Party lawmaker Heo Young regarding the establishment of a dedicated task force to recover damages from the bid-rigging firms.
According to Heo, LH has claimed a total of 87.5 billion won in damages from the bid-rigging companies, but no payments have been received. He pointed out that LH has not taken follow-up actions such as payment reminders or securing claims, nor has it offset the damages against other contract payments owed to the non-paying firms.
Previously, the Fair Trade Commission identified 20 companies involved in bid-rigging for construction supervision and imposed a total fine of 23.7 billion won. However, it was revealed that these companies secured an additional 294.1 billion won in contracts for design services after the collusion was uncovered.
Lee acknowledged the need for improvements, stating, "I will review measures to enhance the effectiveness of penalties for poor performance and bid-rigging, and I will ensure that damages are thoroughly recovered."
Concerns were also raised about the low supply of rental housing for vulnerable groups. Heo noted that the government had announced plans to increase the proportion of priority supply for rental housing to 30% for residents in semi-basement and goshiwon accommodations in 2022, but the actual supply for vulnerable groups last year was only 12.5%.
In response, Lee said, "Due to the limited supply of rental housing for vulnerable groups, there are cases where they are inevitably moving to lease housing. We will seek ways to better protect these vulnerable groups."
* This article has been translated by AI.
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