780,000 Pyong of Green Belt in Seoul Set Aside for Apartment Construction

27,000 apartments will be built next year in 780,000 pyong of “green belt” areas including Gangnam-gu and Seocho-gu as the Seoul Metropolitan government plans to remove a ban on development or renovation on the green areas.

The Seoul Metropolitan government said on Thursday that 780,000 pyong of nine green areas in Gangnam-gu, Gangdong-gu, Gangseo-gu, Gangbuk-gu were chosen for building leased apartments. The initiative is a part of the government’s plan to set up 100,000 leased apartments for people in low-income brackets. The city government added to say that it plans to build 18,000 leased apartments and 9,000 condominiums in those areas starting next year.

The sites which will be subject to the plan are as follows: 241,000 pyong in Gangnam area including 294 Segok-dong in Gangnam-gu and 297 Woomyun-dong, Seocho-gu; 249,000 pyong in Gangdong area including 241 Macheon-dong, Songpa-gu and 497 Gangil-dong, Gangdong-gu; 143,000 pyong in Gangseo area including 197 Hang-dong, Guro-gu and 785 Shinjung-dong, Yangcheon-gu; 148,000 pyong in Gangbuk area including 362 Shinnae-dong, Chungnang-gu and 4 Dobong-dong, Dobong-gu and 10 Sangam-dong, Mapo-gu

The city government and the Ministry of Construction and Transportation will jointly carry out the development project. They will designate the green areas as the sites for development next year, removing the ban on development. The construction will begin next year. To this end, Seoul Metropolitan Development Corporation has recently made a bid announcement for evaluating the environmental conditions in the green areas and planning for development.

30 percent of the leased apartments will be 18 pyong apartments (only 12 pyong available for living space), 40 percent is 22 pyong (15 pyong available for living space), 20 percent is 26 pyong (18 pyong available), and the remaining 10 percent is 33 pyong (25.7 pyong available).

The Seoul Metropolitan government, which has been implementing the plan to build 100,000 leased apartments from 2001, completed building 40,000 apartments this year and will build 20,000 apartments per year from next year until 2006. 37,000 apartments will be built in the current green areas and the remaining 23,000 apartments will be constructed in small-scale residential sites, redevelopment areas, and empty lots after the facilities are redeployed.

In the meanwhile, environmental dispute will be likely to spark as the government’s plan will lift a ban on development on the “green belt” to build large-scale apartment complexes.

Kwawg-Pyo Lee kplee@donga.com