People, Businesses Jockey for New Administrative City Compensation

The area around Yeongi-gun in South Chungcheong Province where the new, multi-functional administrative city will be constructed is being stirred by the scheduled compensation for the land.

The total amount of compensation, which will be released starting December, amounts to 4.6 trillion won. This is almost twice the compensation for the land set aside for the Pangyo New Town in Seongnam-city, Gyeonggi province. The amount is equivalent to 100 units of two-ton cash-carrying vehicles, when converted into 10,000 won notes.

Out of 10,491 people who own parts of the 22.07 million pyeong of land who are eligible for the compensation, 2,386 people (22.7 percent) are living in other areas such as Seoul or its surrounding metropolitan area.

Commercial banks are accelerating their efforts to open a bank in the area, and burial service providers across the nation are rushing to set up shop in Yeongi-gun because the gravesites there are expected to be part of the new administrative city site.

A manager of the special sales division at Hana Bank has been working onsite in the Yeongi and Gongju area since May. Construction of Woori Bank’s 60-pyeong (198 square meters) Haengbok branch is close to completion at a three-way junction in Yongpo-ri, Geumnam-myeon, near the office of the preparation team of the new multi-functional administrative city construction agency.

Nonghyup put up a placard, saying, “We oppose to the opening of new bank branches aiming for compensation,” at the entrance of the rice processing site in Geumnam-myeon.

Eight commercial banks (Kookmin Bank, Industrial Bank of Korea, Shinhan Bank, Woori Bank, Hana Bank, Nonghyup Bank, Standard Chartered First Bank, and Korea Exchange Bank) submitted proposals and began presentations on October 14.

Placards promoting services of changing burial sites are put up across the area including in Keumnam-myeon and Nam-myeon. About 30,000 graves are estimated to be in the graveyard within the future construction site.

Managing director Yu Wan-ho at M burial service provider in Daejon explained, “About 20 companies from across the nation opened their offices here and are fiercely contending to win orders.”

Around the Yuseong area, Daejon, just 20 minutes away from the construction site, dealerships of luxurious, imported cars such as Audi and BMW are popping up.

Despite the sizable compensation, not all residents are happy about it.

A 65-year-old resident whose family name is Yim said in the fields in Yangwha-ri, Nam-myeon, “I have no clue about where I should go, leaving my 700-year-old hometown.”

Ki-Jin Lee doyoce@donga.com