The government says it may move as many as two hundred public offices in the Seoul metropolitan area to provincial regions.

The Ministry of Construction and Transportation said Tuesday that it is currently considering 268 government offices in the Seoul metropolitan area for the prospective transfer.

The ministry said around 180 to 200 public offices will be relocated, including some 35 thousand employees.

The ministry also said it would adopt "collective relocation" measures that would see four to five offices with related functions relocated en masse to address specific regional characteristics as well as related reforms.

One or two complexes will be newly built for the mass relocation in every city and province. Each complex will accomodate digitally and environmentally friendly housing areas with superior education systems.

The relocation of the public agencies is expected to be completed by 2012, when the nation's new administrative capital officially opens.