Local Governments Oppose Urban Plan

With the government earnestly moving forward with its plan to build New Songpa City, one of its August 31 comprehensive real estate measures, the Seoul Metropolitan Government and Gyeonggi Province remain opposed to it, saying that it would have a negative impact on the balanced development of the area between Gangnam and Gangbuk, and that it would be a lopsided development leading to the destruction of green belt areas.

The Ministry of Construction and Transportation, however, has insisted that the implementation of the plan is inevitable, given the insufficient housing supply in the Seoul metropolitan area.

Seoul Mayor Lee Myung-bak said yesterday, “The chances are high that the plan to build a new city in Songpa will trigger a speculative craze in the Gangnam area,” adding, “I will suggest to the government officially that it hold back this project for four to five years.”

Lee told reporters on the same day, “A total of 200,000 apartment units are scheduled to be built in Songpa-gu, Gangnam-gu areas and in Gangbuk New Town until 2010,” adding, “If the government sells 46,000 units in Songpa beginning around 2009, middle class citizens will zero in on the Gangnam area.”

Hanam City, Gyeonggi Province, where 430,000 pyeong of the total designated area for the New Songpa City is located, recently spurned a Construction and Transportation Ministry’s request that it should conduct administrative procedures such as showing the plan to its residents as soon as possible.

Seongnam City also is opposing the plan to develop the green area around the Namhan Sanseong (Fortress Wall), which has been preserved for decades.

Lee Hwa-soon, the director of the Urban Housing Bureau of the Gyeonggi provincial government, said, “Given that the Songpa areas belong to the preservation area under the basic urban plan, I cannot understand the government’s intention to develop the areas with neglecting the basic urban plan at all.”

The government said that the plan would proceed without setbacks, but has voiced its concerns about the possibility of the plan being put off due to the backlash from local governments, including the Seoul City.

Kang Pal-moon, the head of the Residence Welfare Bureau of the Construction and Transportation Ministry, said, “Taking into consideration the insufficient housing supply provided by the Seoul Metropolitan government, it would not be proper to postpone the Songpa project,”

The government and Seoul City should carry out a joint basic investigation in the process of drawing up a metropolitan city plan in order to put the Songpa project into practice.

Accordingly, if the Seoul Metropolitan Government continues to oppose the project, delays will be inevitable.

In particular, unless the Seoul Metropolitan government comes up with a basic urban plan for the Songpa project after mapping out the metropolitan plan, the plan might be postponed for one to two years.