Park Jae-hyuk is a seasoned journalist who has provided comprehensive coverage of South Korea's corporate dynamics, economic policies, industry challenges and the global positioning of Korean companies. Based on the articles he has written since joining The Korea Times in 2016, his investigative approach has helped readers understand corporate governance, economic trends and business strategies shaping South Korea’s economy.
GS E&C admits to faulty construction of apartment underground parking lot in Incheon
Rebar and wires are visible at the collapsed underground parking lot of an apartment complex construction site in Incheon, May 2. Yonhap
By Park Jae-hyuk
By Park Jae-hyuk
GS E&C apologized on Tuesday for last month's collapse of an apartment complex construction site in northern Incheon's Geomdan New Town, admitting that it had missed installing rebar in over 30 places of the destroyed underground parking lot's upper floor.
“During our own investigation independent of the government's investigation, we found out that the construction of some parts were presumed to be different from plans for the apartment complex,” the builder said in a press release.
It promised that the company and the Korean Structural Engineers Association will scrutinize 83 apartment construction sites under its management over the next 10 weeks. GS E&C CEO Lim Byeong-yong and Chief Safety Officer Woo Mu-hyeon will also visit the company's 110 construction sites nationwide to host on-site meetings.
The construction firm, however, denied the speculation that it had intentionally left out rebar to save costs.
“The omission led us to save around 10 million won ($7,600), without shortening the construction work,” GS E&C said. “We concluded that this was caused by a simple mistake.”
The apology came after the construction arm of GS Group questioned the collapsed apartment complex's design, which was drafted by a company hired through Korea Land & Housing Corp. (LH), the state-run real estate developer, which served as the construction project's owner. LH has emphasized that GS E&C was also involved in designing the apartment complex.
Although there were no casualties in the recent accident, both companies enraged the public, because the collapsed underground parking lot is beneath the site of a children's playground.
Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Won Hee-ryong warned that both companies should brace for the possibility of being held responsible for the collapse, while Incheon Mayor Yoo Jeong-bok ordered an inspection of the city's construction sites managed by GS E&C.
The apartment complex's future residents criticized GS E&C and LH for shifting the blame to each other and asked the companies to rebuild the apartment complex.
Amid the ongoing controversy, the land ministry organized a committee to investigate the accident, appointing Hoseo University's architectural engineering professor Hong Keon-ho as the chairman. The committee's experts will finish the investigation by July 1 and develop measures to prevent the recurrence of similar accidents.
“Once the investigation is over, we will transparently unveil the process and results,” a land ministry official said.