“Difficulty in Developing Areas to Pangyo City’s Level”

As the Construction and Transportation Ministry (MOCT) announced on Thursday, February 17, that the Okjung district in Yangju City, Byeolnae district in Namyangju City and Samsong district in Goyang City, all part of Gyeonggi Province, will be developed to the level of the new Pangyo City, these areas are attracting interest.

The Okjung area will be a new city covering some 1.84 million pyong over Okjung, Goam, Huiam, Yuljeong and Samsung-dong in Yangju City, and is located eight kilometers away from Uijeongbu and 30 kilometers from Seoul. Approximately 31,000 apartments are to be built.

The Byeolnae area is located in Namyangju City, east of Taereung, Seoul to Mt. Bulam, and covers Byeolnae-myeon, Gwangjeon, Deoksong and Hwajeob-ri. Some 21,000 apartment units will be built in a 1.54 million pyong lot in the area.

The Samsong area will cover some 1.48 million pyong over Samsong, Dongsan, Shinwon, Ohgeum, Wonheung, Yongdu and Daeja-dong in Deokyang-ku, Goyang City. It is the midpoint of Ilsan and Seoul, and is connected with Eunpyeong New Town.

The MOCT plans to create a green zone for these three areas to be 35 percent of the entire land available, 10 percent higher than a typical housing area (25 percent), and fix the housing floor-area ratio (ratio of the floor area of a building, excluding the underground floor, to the area of the lot on which the building is located) to 150 percent to provide for a more pleasant home environment than a housing area (200 percent).

Transportation facilities such as subways and highways are also planned, in an attempt to make the areas into a second Pangyo.

However, experts judged that these new cities will have difficulty in attracting the demand that is currently all flowing to Pangyo.

First of all, it is not easy to go back and forth to downtown Seoul or Gangnam from these three new cities compared to Pangyo. If the transportation network to downtown Seoul is not established, especially for the Okjung area, difficulties are expected in securing demand.

The Byeolnae and Samsong areas are to be created as residential rental housing areas for stabilizing the homes of the people. So there is a limit to building urban infrastructure and constructing high-class apartments.

An official from the Korea Housing Institute said, “The demand for homes in Pangyo or the Gangnam area cannot be settled by these three areas. A measure to positively utilize the area surrounding Seoul Airport or Yangjae-dong in Seocho-ju, Seoul should be considered.”

Jae-Seong Hwang jsonhng@donga.com