By Jhoo Dong-chan
The Seoul Metropolitan Government (SMG) has been ordered to compensate Hyundai Development Company for financial losses incurred from the delayed bridge remodeling project promoted by former Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon.
The Seoul Central District Court ruled Thursday that the SMG should pay 417 million won to the constructor after the company incurred losses because the remodeling, which was a part of Oh’s “Han River Renaissance Project,” has been delayed.
In 2010, Oh said the city would connect Yeouido in the Han River with Ara Waterway in Gimpo, Gyeonggi Province and beyond the West Sea to improve business and tourism in the metropolitan area.
The SMG first started to renovate Yanghwa Bridge to allow larger cruise ships to pass under it, widening the gap between its bridge towers from 42 meter to 112 meters. The SMG invested 46 billion won in the renovation.
However, after this was met with severe public criticism regarding the project’s profitability, the renovation was temporarily suspended in June 2010.
But the SMG resumed the renovation in September that year, and the Seoul Metropolitan Council slashed the total construction budget for 2011, and the construction was halted and resumed several times. Oh’s successor, Park Won-soon who was inaugurated in October 2011, stopped much of the Han River Renaissance Project, citing a lack of economic validity and social consensus, but the remodeling continued because the work had almost been completed.
On completion of the project, Hyundai filed a damage suit against the SMG in 2013, demanding it compensate the company with 1.8 billion won for losses incurred from the delayed construction.
The court ruled in favor of the company but set the compensation at 417 million won.