"Complaints of Damage Due to Indiscriminate Market Entry by General Construction Companies"
Kim Young-hyun, Head of Construction Policy Headquarters at Jeongonhyeop (left), and Kim Moon-jung, Director of Construction Policy Office, are submitting a petition from the specialized construction industry to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.
[Asia Economy Reporter Ryu Tae-min] The Korea Specialty Contractors Association Central Committee has demanded that registration standards be exempted for small-scale general construction projects to ensure fair competition conditions in mutual market entry between specialty and general contractors.
The association announced on the 14th that it submitted 35,250 petitions titled "Petitions to Protect the Survival Rights of Small Specialty Companies" received from member companies nationwide to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. As consensus grows that the indiscriminate entry of general contractors into the specialty market threatens the existence of small companies, many specialty industry workers appear to have joined the petition.
The association claimed, "Although the restructuring of the production system to remove entry regulations between construction sectors began this year in the public sector, the situation as of March shows serious bidding difficulties and order imbalances for specialty companies."
It further pointed out that public institution clients set most construction types related to projects as main works and require all main works to meet registration standards or judge them as general construction, which is unreasonable. Due to incorrect ordering practices, specialty companies are constrained in bidding participation as they must meet unnecessary specialty or general construction registration standards.
Through the petition, the association proposed gradually allowing mutual market entry until fair institutional competition conditions are established. It also demanded correction of unreasonable ordering practices that excessively require licenses, exemption of registration standards for small-scale general construction, and permanent sectoral designation of specialty construction for small-scale construction projects.
It requested active guidance efforts to improve ordering practices and the establishment of proactive protection measures, such as allowing ordering parties discretion to restrict participation of general construction companies by sufficiently considering the purpose or characteristics of ordered projects.
An association official stated, "We will explore all means until the government fully collects industry opinions and implements reasonable policies to protect and foster small specialty construction businesses, thereby solidifying a strong foundation in society."
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