South Korea's public organizations are seeking to sell a combined 7 trillion won ($6.5 billion) worth of land and properties as part of efforts to reduce their ballooning debt and relocate their headquarters to regional areas, a parliamentary report said Monday.
According to the report submitted by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport to the National Assembly, 51 public organizations currently plan to sell a combined 2.46 million square meters of land on a total of 54 different lots.
Their book value is estimated at 5.7 trillion won, but given that a book value is customarily 80 percent of the market value, the properties put up for sale could fetch about 7 trillion won, real estate market experts said.
The massive property sale plan is in response to the government's push to reform the country's debt-ridden public organizations, which were ordered in December to come up with self-rescue plans that included selling their assets.
They are also under pressure to sell as they have to move their headquarters out of the capital city of Seoul in line with the government-led drive for balanced regional development through relocation of public organizations to provincial areas.
The sales will attract investors since a large portion of the properties are located in profitable and populous areas of Seoul where more than 10 million people reside.
One of the most coveted properties is the headquarters of the Korea Electric Power Corp. in the affluent Gangnam district of Seoul. The 79,342 square-meter site could fetch up to 3 trillion won, market experts said. (Yonhap News)
