Gyeonggi-do's Pre-Feasibility Studies Pass but Fail One After Another... Urgent Need to Improve the 'Reverse Discrimination' System

Joint Response with Seoul and Incheon... System Improvement 추진
"Relatively Disadvantageous Structure for 수도권 Projects"

It has been revealed that none of the 24 related projects proposed by Gyeonggi Province passed the preliminary feasibility study in the government's 5th National Road and National Support Local Road (Gukjijiwon Jibangdo) Construction Plan.

Under the current system, new construction or expansion of national roads and national support local roads must pass the preliminary feasibility study conducted by the Ministry of Economy and Finance to be reflected in the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport's five-year national road and national support local road construction plan.

However, since the preliminary feasibility study system was reformed in April 2019, the evaluation criteria have been dualized: for the metropolitan area, economic feasibility (B/C) accounts for 60-70% and policy feasibility 30-40%; for non-metropolitan areas, economic feasibility is 30-45%, policy feasibility 25-40%, and regional balanced development 30-40%. This has increased the economic feasibility burden on metropolitan area projects with high compensation costs.

As a result, none of the 24 projects proposed by Gyeonggi Province in the 5th National Road and National Support Local Road Construction Plan (2021?2025) passed the preliminary feasibility study.

Only four projects in border, island, and agricultural and fishing villages areas, which apply non-metropolitan evaluation indicators despite being in the metropolitan area, received additional points for regional underdevelopment and risk indices and were included in the 5th National Road and National Support Local Road Construction Plan.

Meeting of Gyeonggi Province and City/County Road Planning Officials
[Photo by Gyeonggi Provincial Government Northern Office]

According to the province on the 14th, in non-metropolitan areas, a project with an economic feasibility (B/C) of 0.16 passed the preliminary feasibility study with a comprehensive evaluation (AHP) score of 0.527. However, within the province, routes such as Pyeongtaek Anjung~Osong with a B/C of 0.84, Hwaseong Ujeong~Namyang with 0.80, and Yongin Cheoin~Gwangju Opo with 0.77 all failed to pass because their comprehensive evaluation (AHP) scores were below 0.5.

In response, the province stated, "The current preliminary feasibility study system, which separates the metropolitan and non-metropolitan areas for evaluation, is structured disadvantageously for metropolitan road construction projects," and decided to jointly respond with Seoul and Incheon to propose system improvements. The province explained that the current system is relatively unfavorable to the metropolitan area.

With the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport currently conducting the '6th National Road and National Support Local Road Construction Plan (2026?2030),' starting demand surveys in April, announcing preliminary feasibility study results in May 2025, and final notification in December 2025, prompt action is necessary.

To this end, the Gyeonggi Research Institute plans to conduct a joint research project with the Seoul Institute and Incheon Institute to improve the preliminary feasibility study system ahead of the establishment of the '6th National Road and National Support Local Road Construction Plan.'

The province is not only proposing system improvements but also analyzing issues with each indicator of the comprehensive evaluation (AHP) under the current system, examining overlaps or ambiguous concepts with economic feasibility evaluation items, and seeking ways to maximize scores in the policy feasibility evaluation items.

Oh Hu-seok, Deputy Governor for Administration of Gyeonggi Province, said, "It is time for a fundamental discussion on the entire preliminary feasibility study system to resolve the structure disadvantageous to metropolitan projects," adding, "We will share related information with Seoul and Incheon to explore cooperation measures to solve the problem."

He continued, "We will prepare persuasive data by city and county within the province for each policy evaluation item to ensure that more routes are selected in the 6th National Road and National Support Local Road Plan."