Province to leverage negative-list system, sector exception zones and integrated placement under existing rules
Gyeonggi Province will expand the range of industries eligible to move into its industrial complexes, aiming to clear unsold units and attract corporate investment. The initiative centers on making greater use of three existing mechanisms — a negative-list system, sector exception zones and integrated sector placement — tailored to each complex's founding purpose and business demand.
According to Gyeonggi Province on Monday, the province has drawn up an action plan to revitalize move-ins at its industrial complexes. New complexes will be designed from the planning stage to accommodate a wider range of business needs, while completed complexes will receive active support to allow cities, counties and management bodies to voluntarily review and revise their basic management plans.
The initiative reflects the difficulty of meeting new move-in demand using only the industry categories and placement plans set when each complex was originally built — a challenge that has grown as industrial structures shift and manufacturing increasingly converges with IT and service industries. By adjusting restrictions on eligible industries and locations to fit each complex's conditions, the province aims to raise the utilization of industrial land and improve prospects for attracting investment.
Under the negative-list system, rather than enumerating every permitted industry, authorities designate restricted categories — those unsuitable due to environmental pollution or traffic generation — and broadly allow all others. Sector exception zones designate part of an industrial facility zone as a separate district, permitting a wide range of industries except those restricted by law. Integrated sector placement allows two or more industries to be assigned to the same zone, block or lot, reducing the constraints of plans that limit a given lot to a single industry and widening the location options available to businesses. The measures will be applied only to the extent that they do not disrupt the operations of existing tenants.
Gyeonggi Province does not plan to apply each mechanism uniformly across all complexes. Instead, it will support cities, counties and management bodies in determining whether and how broadly to adopt each tool after comprehensively reviewing each complex's founding purpose, specialized industries, pre-sale status, shifts in industrial structure and infrastructure capacity.
For new complexes, the province plans to encourage adoption of the negative-list system or integrated sector placement in select zones from the planning stage, maintaining the concentration of core industries such as semiconductors and advanced manufacturing while also accommodating move-in demand linked to those anchor sectors.
For completed complexes, areas where unsold units are hampering local economic activity will focus on boosting pre-sales by welcoming a broader mix of industries. Complexes that have aged 20 to 30 or more years since completion — marked by haphazard development of small standalone factories, a concentration of traditional manufacturing, or a need to shift toward industry convergence — will focus on promoting the integration of existing manufacturing with engineering, IT and software.
Through this initiative, Gyeonggi Province plans to actively support plan revisions so that cities, counties and management bodies can apply existing rules to fit each complex's conditions. The province also aims to widen businesses' location choices, helping to clear unsold units and advance the upgrading of industrial structures.
Min Woo Lee, head of the province's Industrial Location Division, said each complex has a different founding purpose and tenant profile, making it important to apply the right tools to match local conditions and business demand. "We will support the planning and plan revisions needed so that cities and counties and management bodies can actively respond to changes in industrial structure and new move-in demand," Lee said.
Lee added that the province would work with cities, counties and management bodies to raise the utilization of industrial land and support corporate investment attraction and local economic revitalization.
pjh@heraldcorp.com
