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| Bird's eye view of the Saemangeum International Airport / Courtesy of Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport |
By Lee Hae-rin
Economic and environmental issues regarding a proposed airport in Saemangeum are emerging once again as the tendering process to construct it came to an end, Thursday.
The Seoul Regional Office of Aviation wrapped up its four-day tender bidding process after receiving tender bid applications from building developers who are interested in the Saemangeum International Airport proposed project, which the government hopes will be built by 2029 in North Jeolla Province.
The Saemangeum airport project is part of the government's efforts to seek balanced regional growth across the country, a policy adopted in 2019.
The government plans to spend a total of 807 billion won ($600 million) on the airport project, with 510 billion won assigned for its construction.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and the local government aims to develop the renowned tidal flat of Saemangeum into a global business and logistics hub with the construction of the international airport.
Three companies qualified via the tender process to construct works relating to the proposed international airport on the 1.89 million-square-meter site, which will feature a single 2,500-meter-long runway. The ministry will evaluate the three companies' applications and announce the results a few months from now.
However, activists denounced the ministry for proceeding with the construction bid phase while it remains still uncertain whether the airport will actually be built. The Ministry of Environment's environmental impact evaluation is still underway and a final decision on whether to proceed with the airport's construction can only be reached with its consent.
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| Activists of a local civic group called Joint Action for Cancellation of Saemangeum New Airport hold a press conference in front of Government Complex Sejong to urge the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport to withdraw its plans for the construction of Saemangeum International Airport on the tidal flat, Thursday. Yonhap |
"The planned site (for the airport's construction) is the Sura tidal flat, which is the last tidal flat remaining unfilled from the Saemangeum reclamation project and a coastal flat," local civic group, Joint Action for Cancellation of Saemangeum New Airport, said during a press conference in front of the ministry at Sejong Government Complex, Thursday.
According to the civic group, the tidal flat has an international ecological value as it serves as a seasonal sanctuary for many endangered migratory birds around the world and houses over 50 endangered species, which are recognized by the Korean government. Also, the construction of an airport on such an important carbon reservoir goes against the government's plan to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and to be carbon-neutral by 2050, the group said.
The airport's economic impact also remains unclear, as the transport ministry's report from June 2019 says that the Saemangeum airport plan scored 0.479 on a scale of one in a cost-benefit analysis, meaning it expects a deficit once built.
In 2018, then-North Jeolla Province Governor Song Ha-jin requested that the airport be exempt from a preliminary feasibility study, citing the hosting of the World Scout Jamboree.
The controversy triggered the ruling party to blame the local government over the Jamboree fiasco, and to further question the municipality's exploitation of the international event to garner tax money for the Saemangeum infrastructure project.
Meanwhile, Kim Kwan-young, the governor of North Jeolla Province, denied any association of the airport construction with Jamboree during a meeting with lawmakers at the National Assembly on the day.
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