“20 Additional Pangyo-Sized New towns are Needed by 2012"

According to a new report by the Korea Research Institute for Human Settlements (KRIHS), 130 million pyong of building sites nationwide should be prepared by 2012, and half of the land should be used to build new towns with more than 1 million pyong each.

If this new housing project is implemented, there will be additional 12 new towns with the size of Gimpo New Town (4.98 million pyong) and 20 with the size of Paju (2.75million pyong), Pangyo (2.82 million pyong), and Hwaseong (2.73 million pyong).

KRIHS said it released a "comprehensive housing development plan for 2003 to 2012" and reported it to the Ministry of Construction and Transportation. The government is expected to confirm its final housing plan by the end of this year.

The number of new households needed by 2012 is estimated to be 2.416 million in the Metropolitan area and 1.97 million in the district areas, totaling 4.386 million. To accommodate such households, the necessary building land is estimated to be 70.60 million pyong in the metropolitan area and 59.40 million in the district areas, totaling 130 million pyong, according to the report.

Researchers suggested, "In order to prevent side effects caused by lack of infrastructure and to develop comfortable living conditions, half of the building site should be developed as massive housing complexes with more than 1 million pyong.", adding, "KRIHS plans to use 60 million pyong land to develop new towns."

With this plan in place, the rate of housing supplies will reach 116 percent by 2012 and the rate of those who own their houses will exceed 60 percent, estimated researchers.

Jae-Seong Hwang jsonhng@donga.com