Government to Develop 9 New Ports

By 2011, nine new ports will be developed in Inchon north harbor, Pyongtaek, Yungil Bay in Pohang, Boryung, Saemangum, Pusan, Ulsan, and Kwangyang.

Ministry of Maritime Affairs & Fisheries (MMAF), Korea Container Terminal Co. Ltd., and Korea Ocean Research & Development Institute (KORDI) announced a policy plan in their panel discussion about constructing circulation centers at Korea Press Center in Seoul yesterday.

They expected a loss of 9 billion won by 2011, if construction of new ports is delayed, which will cause a `Circulation war.` The government made it clear that they will take an action for constructing new ports to prevent a `Circulation war.`

Chung Woo-Taek , the secretary of MMAF, said ``If we do not build additional new ports, 81 percent of current port securing rate will drop to 65 percent by 2011. Consequently, we will fall behind to other countries in the competition to be a circulation center of Northeast Asia.``

He added, ``The development will mainly focus on the construction of oversized container ports.`` He also revealed a plan by saying ``We will closely cooperate with the Planning and Budget Office in the Ministry of Finance and Economy to expand Pusan and Kwangyang ports to become `Hub ports` in Northeast Asia.``

Kim Hak-So , a research scientist at KORDI emphasized the importance of this project by saying, ``Although the total amount of circulation is currently increasing 8.1 percent every year, the government’s plan to add 200 ship-lots for which they spend 13.4 trillion won has been achieved only 32 percent by this year.``

daviskim@donga.com