South Gyeonggi Likely New Town Site

In an interview with Dong-A Ilbo, Construction Minister Choo Byung-jik revealed, “The additional satellite city will have on average 50 to 60 pyeong houses and will be placed in order to absorb the excess population from Gangnam.” This has made South Gyeonggi-do a powerful satellite city candidate.

A source in the Gyeonggi provincial office has given weight to this speculation, saying, immediately after presenting the satellite city plan on October 23, Minister Choo revealed, “Negotiations with the Ministry of Construction & Transportation to build a new satellite city in North and South Gyeonggi have come to an agreement.”

5 Candidates in South Gyeonggi-

Real estate experts have focused on the fact that the government has chosen Paju new town to be expanded. Through this, they say South Gyeonggi areas, such as Gwacheon, Gwangju, Hanam, Gwangmyeong, Seongnam and Seoul Airport have high possibilities to become the new satellite city.

To begin with, the Gwacheon-si area such as the Gwacheon race course (350,000 pyeong), the land reserved for Gwacheon Intelligence & Information town in the Munwon and Galhyeon-dong area (500,000 pyeong), and Gwacheon provincial office area (120,000 pyeong) are rising candidates.

If the surrounding area of the National Museum of Contemporary Art and Seoul Grand Park are included, large-scale development will be possible, and highway, circulation express highway, and the line 4 subway are nearby, making transportation easy.

The Cheonggye Mountain region between Anyang and Gwacheon is also a candidate. Lee Young-ho, head of the research department at real-estate intelligence enterprise, Dr.Apart, said, “It’s a good location that can absorb the Seoul Gangnam work force.”

Han Duck-soo, deputy prime-minister and Minister of Finance and Economy, said last year, “There are a lot of places near Seoul that can be developed,” and mentioned the region between Gwacheon and Anyang as the example.

East Yongin-si region (Yongin Dongbaek region- Gwangju- Icheon) is also discussed as a candidate. Especially Gwangju-si Opo-eup region is adjacent to Pangyo, Bundang new town, and can secure a six million pyeong large-scale tract of land fairly easily. However, the fact that there is a water supply preservation zone in the area could be an obstacle.

Greenbelt an Obstacle-

Hanam-si, which is close to Seoul Songpa-gu and Gangdong-gu, and therefore can absorb the Gangnam population, is also close to the Songpa new town, making it a good location. The key point is whether the green belt making up most of the city area can be released.

The 5 million pyeong of land around the Seongnam Seoul Airport region, Gwangmyeong-si Gwangmyeong train station, and Siheung-si landfill are also candidates. Representative Gok Jong-wan of RE Members explained, “If connected as a Gangnam- Seoul Airport- Bundang region, Seoul Airport will enjoy the effect of large-scale development. However, it is a point of strategic importance for the air force, which will make negotiation with the Ministry of Defense a problem.”

With candidates for the new satellite cities, which will be presented next year, narrowing down to four or five places, many are worried that speculative investment in real estate in these areas will increase.

The real estate market in Gwacheon is already busy with movement, with apartment prices leaping tens of million won in the past few weeks, and landowners withdrawing land for sale.

Representative Park Sang-eon of U&R Consulting emphasized, “As South Gyeonggi is a region preferred by Seoul residents, side-affects such as increasing housing and land prices are predictable. A government solution is necessary.”

higgledy@donga.com abc@donga.com