600,000 Pyong Around Incheon International Airport Will Be Designated As Duty-Free District Next Month

The reserved area of 600,000 pyong north of Incheon International Airport will be designated as the expected duty-free district at the beginning of next month.

On the 17th, the officials of the Ministry of Construction and Transportation (MCT) announced that they submitted the documents requesting for the designation of the expected duty-free district which was relayed by the Incheon Airport Corporation to the dutt-free district council after holding a conference with the related offices. They are planning to finish the documentary deliberations by next week. According to the document, MCT decided to designate the reserved area of 600,000 pyong north of Incheon International Airport as a duty-free district.

After the designation procedure, the Incheon Airport Corporation will gather investors for the 300,000 pyong of preferred development area from the total 600,000 pyong, and start purchasing the site for corporation facilities.

The MCT anticipates that if the construction is finished by 2004 as expected, it will be able to open in 2005, after the final designation procedure.

If the duty-free district opens, Incheon Airport will handle 1,700,000 tons of goods in 2005, and 2,540,000 tons of goods in 2010. In the year 2020 when the development of 600,000 pyong is completed, the quantity of goods transported will increase to 5,330,000 tons and Incheon Airport will be the largest goods-transporting base in the northeastern Asia.

Industries such as shipping and discharging, transportation, storage, simple processing sale, and supply of aircraft parts and aircraft service and repair will enter the duty-free district.

Ja-Ryong Koo bonhong@donga.com