Restricted competitive bidding will become possible for youth, small business owners, and multi-child families seeking permission to use public property. At the same time, the government will block undervalued sales of public property and opaque private contracts, moving toward fair and transparent asset management.
The Ministry of the Interior and Safety said on the 14th that a revised enforcement decree of the Public Property and Commodity Management Act with these contents was approved at a cabinet meeting that day. The revision focuses on expanding opportunities for youth and small business owners to use public property, while preventing low-price sales of public property to enhance transparency in public asset management.
First, it lowers the barrier for youth, small business owners, and multi-child families to use public property. A legal basis has been established to conduct restricted competitive bidding targeting youth and youth startup companies, small business owners, or those raising multiple children when issuing bid notices for permission to use or lease public property. Previously, permission to use and lease public property was operated on the principle of open competitive bidding, making participation difficult for youth or small business owners with relatively limited financial capacity. The ministry expects that this institutional improvement will allow local governments to more actively utilize public property in line with policy goals such as youth startup support and regional economic revitalization.
The threshold amount for one-time payment of usage fees and lease fees for public property over a usage period of up to five years was also raised from 200,000 won or less annually to 500,000 won or less. As a result, users can reduce the burden of usage fees that rise slightly each year due to factors such as land price increases, and are relieved of the inconvenience of receiving and paying bills every year.
Undervalued sales and private contracts of public property will be blocked. The provision that allowed private contracts solely on the grounds of small assets worth 30 million won or less or bids that failed two or more times was deleted. In addition, for small assets worth less than 10 million won, the publicly announced land price will be used only as a basis for calculating the planned bid price rather than the sale price. In particular, when property is sold at a price lowered to below 80% of the initial planned price due to repeated failed bids, a resolution by the local council is made mandatory to prevent low-price disposal of public property.
Other shortcomings that emerged in the actual operation of the system were also supplemented. General restaurant business was added to the scope of administrative property use permission for food truck operations, improving the system so that unnecessary business restrictions are eliminated from the permission stage. In addition, among the requirements for private sale and lease applied when local governments attract companies or factories, "the number of regular employees" residing in the relevant area was changed to "the number of newly hired employees," encouraging local governments to create local jobs by utilizing idle property.
Interior and Safety Minister Yun Ho-jung said, "We will continue to improve the system so that public property does not remain merely an object of management, but can serve as a catalyst that revitalizes the regional economy and enhances residents' convenience."
