The government will lift the development restrictions in non-capital regions (Greenbelt) to create industrial and logistics complexes for regional balanced development, including state-led projects and regional economic revitalization, as well as fostering special industries. This also includes the national industrial complexes for future cars and NANO and semiconductor announced last year.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced on the 25th that it has selected 15 national and regional strategic projects for the Greenbelt. The selected regions will go through related administrative procedures, including consultations with relevant agencies and preliminary feasibility studies, and the Greenbelt is expected to be lifted sequentially starting in the first half of next year.
Earlier, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced measures to innovate Greenbelt regulations at the 13th people's livelihood discussion held in Ulsan in February last year and stated plans to broadly lift the Greenbelt in non-capital regions. Subsequently, in April last year, related guidelines were revised to allow for the lifting of the Greenbelt conditionally by designating alternative sites for environmental evaluations rated 1 and 2, which previously made lifting impossible, introducing national and regional strategic projects for non-capital regions.
A total of 33 project demands were submitted from 6 regions, and after evaluations by specialized institutions, reviews by the Central Urban Planning Committee, and Cabinet meetings, 15 locations have been selected.
The ministry explained that the selection was focused on specific and feasible projects that would greatly impact regional economic revitalization. The selected projects by region include four areas in Changwon, including the Jinhae New Port and port hinterland, three areas in Busan, including the second Eco-Delta City, three areas in Gwangju, including the national industrial complex for future cars, three areas in Ulsan for the hydrogen complex valley industrial complex, the transfer of the agricultural and fishery wholesale market in Daegu, and the NANO semiconductor national industrial complex in Daejeon.
Among the 15 selected projects, the largest number is 10 projects related to creating industrial and logistics complexes, which are expected to have significant balanced development effects. The ministry said, "The industrial demand is sufficient, making it highly feasible, and this will not only lay the foundation for fostering national high-tech industries such as automobiles, semiconductors, hydrogen, and secondary batteries, but also it is expected to bring extensive ripple effects that will greatly assist in revitalizing the regional economy."
In particular, among the national industrial complex candidates announced by the ministry last January, the Gwangju National Industrial Complex for future cars and the Daejeon NANO and semiconductor national industrial complexes are included in this strategic project selection, which is expected to boost the development of industrial complexes.
Additionally, five projects that were needed in the region but had high proportions of environmental evaluation grades 1 and 2, or were difficult to implement due to insufficient total amount of Greenbelt lifting in local governments were also selected.
The project sites will subsequently be designated as permission zones for land transactions to prevent real estate speculation, and both the ministry and local governments will monitor unusual transactions.
The total project cost is expected to amount to approximately 27.8 trillion won. Once the project is underway, it is expected to yield significant regional economic revitalization effects, including about 124.5 trillion won in production-inducing effects and 380,000 jobs, according to the ministry.
Moreover, considering the economic effects of this lifting and additional demands for strategic industries in local governments, there are plans to promote a second round of selections. A ministry official noted, "We will closely observe the effects of this selection and review the future second selection," adding, "If there are projects among those not selected this time that can utilize the remaining total Greenbelt volume within the region on their own, the ministry will actively support them."
First Vice Minister of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Jin Hyun-hwan stated, "While the fundamental principle remains that the preservation value of development-restricted areas is important, we selected this national and regional strategic project for development-restricted areas through bold regulatory innovation to invigorate the regions," and added, "We plan to actively operate related systems so that the development-restricted area system is not perceived as an obstacle to regional growth but can be utilized as an opportunity for regional growth."