[Supervision, Their Own Cartel] ④ "Urgent Need for System Improvement... Breaking Away from Former Officials' Privileges and Low-Bid Practices"

The mass omission of rebar in public apartment complexes managed by Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH) has once again brought the ineffective supervision system under scrutiny. To prevent poor-quality construction, the final safeguard?the supervision system that monitors design and construction?must function properly. Experts pointed out that the supervision system, which is limited to construction, needs improvement, and that the issues of preferential treatment for retired officials and low-price bidding practices must be fundamentally addressed.

On the 1st, a tent was installed for reinforcement work in the underground parking lot of Chorongkkot Village Complex 3 (Paju Unjeong A34) in Paju, Gyeonggi Province. [Image source=Yonhap News]

First, experts identified the fundamental cause as the domestic supervision system being limited to construction. Park Seong-jun, Vice President of the Korea Institute of Registered Architects, stated, “In Korea, since the revision of the Housing Act in the early 1990s, designers and supervisors have been separated, causing the role of supervision to focus heavily on construction. As a result, the capability regarding design has declined, making it difficult to oversee defects such as workers on-site adopting methods that are convenient for them or construction differing from the design documents.” In fact, among the 15 LH apartment complexes where rebar was omitted this time, nearly half?7 complexes?had issues in the design process, such as omission or errors in structural calculations.

In contrast, advanced countries assign supervision duties to the designers, thereby strengthening oversight not only of construction but also of design. In Germany, architectural designers are responsible for supervision, and in Japan, for private construction projects, designers also handle supervision. Vice President Park said, “It is necessary to introduce systems like the United States’ Construction Administration (CA), which involves designers in construction supervision, to prevent poor-quality construction.”

There are also criticisms that the role of supervision has disappeared due to preferential treatment for retired officials. Among the 15 complexes caught for poor construction, 8 supervision companies were confirmed to be ‘former official companies’ where retired LH employees were re-employed. Professor Choi Myung-gi of the Korea Industrial Field Professors Group pointed out, “Given LH’s culture that places great importance on seniority, if senior employees are brought in as supervisors, it is indeed difficult for LH to oversee them on-site. Companies that hire former officials tend to reduce supervision budgets due to excessive sales costs, making it difficult to hire competent supervisors who can identify problems throughout the design and construction process.”

Professor Choi added, “Although LH plans to establish the ‘Anti-Cartel Fair Construction Promotion Headquarters’ to eradicate construction cartels, it is more important to cultivate a culture within the organization where people can speak up about wrongdoings than merely creating an organization.”

There are also criticisms that the client’s low-price bidding practices caused this incident. Since subcontractors are hired based on price rather than quality or safety, problems arose in supervision and other areas. Professor Choi said, “Because supervision companies try to lower costs, it is not uncommon for retired elderly individuals to be assigned as supervisors on-site. Naturally, many lack professionalism, such as lower concentration and insufficient ability to understand drawings.” Vice President Park said, “To change the low-price bidding practice, it is necessary to raise the minimum bidding price to a reasonable level. Only then can supervision companies compete based on quality rather than price.”