As Gyeonggi Province Governor Choo Mi-ae resumed the Gyeonggi International Airport candidate site analysis service, which had been suspended due to controversy over fairness, discussions on airport construction are reigniting.
Governor Chu is emphasizing the need to build an airport, citing the demand for air logistics from high-tech industries such as semiconductors. However, difficulties are expected in the process of carrying out the project due to conflicting positions among local governments, with Suwon City welcoming it and Hwaseong City opposing it.
According to Gyeonggi Province on the 8th, Gyeonggi International Airport began the project during the 8th popular election under former Governor Kim Dong-yeon with the purpose of responding to the high-tech industry's air logistics demand concentrated in the southern Gyeonggi region and resolving the inconvenience of air travel for residents due to the possibility of saturation of airports in the metropolitan area.
Gyeonggi-do selected three sites, including Hwaseong Lake Reclamation Site in Hwaseong-si, Seotan-myeon, Pyeongtaek-si, and Moga-myeon, Icheon-si, as preliminary candidate sites, and in August of last year ordered a 'Gyeonggi International Airport candidate site analysis and hinterland development strategy establishment research service' aimed at analyzing the pros and cons of each preliminary candidate site.
This service was scheduled to be completed for 9 months until April of this year with a provincial budget of 238 million won, but the brakes were put on hold.
When it became known that a company headed by an advisor involved in the Gyeonggi International Airport hosting project had received an order for services, a controversy over fairness arose during the government audit in October last year, and it was suspended on December 5 of the same year.
Afterwards, Gyeonggi Province's audit of the service ordering and contracting process was conducted, and in July of this year, the province determined that there were no violations of the law.
Accordingly, Gyeonggi Province decided to resume the service last month and complete it by the end of February next year.
Gyeonggi Province Governor Choo Mi-ae explained in an audit of the Gyeonggi Province government by the Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee of the National Assembly on the 19th of last month, "After taking office, I found out that the Gyeonggi International Airport service was suspended. I thought there was a misunderstanding that there was a potential conflict of interest, but there was no investigation result, and the result was trustworthy, so I decided to resume the service."
At the same time, he expressed his intention to promote Gyeonggi International Airport, saying, “It makes no sense that Gyeonggi-do, which produces the most semiconductors and has sufficient demand for cutting-edge air cargo, does not have an airport.”
Governor Chu also mentioned semiconductors at the regular meeting of the Gyeonggi Provincial Council on the 4th of this month and emphasized the need for Gyeonggi International Airport.
He said, “There is a huge demand for various high-tech industrial infrastructure, such as bio, centered on semiconductors, and air logistics, and if Incheon Airport is saturated in 2035, Gyeonggi Province must prepare independently.” He added, “The political world is also talking about semiconductor express and semiconductor airport, so Gyeonggi Province is also insisting on the necessity.”
However, the resumption of services does not mean the construction of the airport is confirmed. Gyeonggi Province views the construction of an airport as a national affair and plans to pursue it entirely with government funds. First, it aims to reflect the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport's comprehensive airport development plan.
Differences in position between local governments that have persisted since the beginning of the project implementation remain.
In the case of Suwon City, it appears to be actively welcoming the resumption of services as it plans to promote the relocation of the military airport, which is a top pending issue, in connection with the construction of Gyeonggi International Airport.
In particular, Suwon City is in the position that it can invest all of its estimated 15 trillion won worth of military airport site sale costs into the Gyeonggi International Airport development project.
An official from the Suwon City Airport Relocation Promotion Team said, "One of the opinions against Gyeonggi International Airport is that Incheon Airport is nearby, but the travel time to Incheon is considerable, so logistics costs are significant for companies when exporting high value-added products such as semiconductors. For this reason, companies are also welcoming the Gyeonggi International Airport project."
On the other hand, Hwaseong City is taking issue with Gyeonggi Province's involvement in promoting this project.
It is argued that since it is a national affair, review at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport level should take priority, and if Gyeonggi Province pursues it arbitrarily, Hwaseong City's local autonomy may be seriously infringed.
An official from Hwaseong City said, "In addition, if an airport is built on the Hwaseong Lake reclaimed land, which has high conservation value, wetlands and migratory bird habitats that must be passed down to future generations may be destroyed, and the migratory bird habitat has a high risk of bird collision accidents. In addition, Maehyang-ri, south of the Hwaseong Lake reclaimed land, has been used as a US military bombing site and has suffered from noise for over 50 years, and we cannot risk making the sacrifice again."
Pyeongtaek-si and Icheon-si, which are included in the preliminary candidate sites along with Hwaseong-si, did not take a particular position.
An official from Gyeonggi Province said, "Gyeonggi Province's role in relation to the promotion of Gyeonggi International Airport is to ensure that this project is reflected in the 7th comprehensive airport development plan of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. To this end, services are currently in progress and we will continue to take necessary measures once the results are released."
