Four Years Since Approval, Still No Construction: The Identity of an Urban Eyeshore Full of Bugs

[Anchor]

More than 60 housing development sites in Daegu have been left abandoned without even breaking ground, turning into eyesores within the city. Residents are flooding local governments with complaints due to foul odors and swarming insects, but authorities are helpless.

TBC reporter Park Ga-young has the story.

[Reporter]

A school route enclosed by rusty iron fences.

Children precariously walk past the site.

Banners declaring the enforcement of lien rights hang everywhere, and the long-abandoned land is overgrown with weeds.

Approval for building an apartment complex here was granted back in 2022, but to this day, not a single shovel has broken ground, leaving the site abandoned as an urban blight.

As rainwater has accumulated over the years, even a large puddle has formed.

The water is filled with various bugs and emits a severe stench.

[Parent: My (elementary school child) is in the third grade, and it's been like this since the first grade. It looks like water is pooling, and it seems quite dangerous.]

In Beomeo-dong, known as a prime plot of land in Daegu, an 8,200-square-meter lot sits idle in the middle of a forest of high-rise apartments.

This is because construction on the mixed-use residential complex has been postponed indefinitely.

[Nearby Merchant: Honestly, I think it needs to be developed somehow, so leaving it abandoned is definitely wrong.]

The number of uncommenced housing construction project sites within the Daegu region stands at 66.

Sites left untouched for over two years number 57, and among them, 12 have been stalled for over five years.

In most cases, economic stagnation has caused problems with builders securing financing.

The problem is that unlike construction sites where work has already begun, sites where not a single touch has been made lack even legal grounds, limiting intervention by local governments.

[District Office Official: Since construction hasn't legally started yet, we are reviewing relevant laws, but there seems to be nothing we can mandate.]

This is why voices are growing calling for the establishment of grounds that allow local governments to take direct action—even if it is private land—when elements that hinder the public interest arise.

[KYUNGMIN, Daegu Suseong-gu Council Member: Because it is essentially a dispute within private property, there isn't much room for public authorities to step in. So we are examining whether we can resolve these issues through ordinances and are actually preparing to enact one.]

Dozens of uncommenced sites abandoned for years amid poor management are triggering safety issues as well as urban hollowing.

(Video by Jungwoo | Design: Kim Se-yoon)

TBC Park Ga-young
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.