Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon proposed using the Tancheon water recycling center site to build a youth-focused residential and industrial complex for up to 13,000 households as an alternative to supplying dwellings inside Yongsan Park, which the government is reviewing. He criticized the plan to transfer to autonomous districts the authority over redevelopment and reconstruction projects of 500 households or fewer, pushed by the government and ruling party, as "recklessly dangerous armchair administration."
After attending the Future Innovation Forum held at the National Assembly Members' Office Building in Yeouido, Seoul, on the 25th, Oh told reporters, "After the government recently reviewed turning part of Yongsan Park into a residential complex, the Seoul Metropolitan Government also found an alternative with conditions just as favorable," adding, "It is a plan to develop the site currently used as the Tancheon water recycling center into a tentatively named 'Southeastern youth-focused industrial complex.'"
According to Oh, the city has been reviewing, for about two years, a plan to relocate and modernize the Tancheon water recycling center, which was built more than 40 years ago. It has completed the related service and is reviewing the eligibility of private-sector operators.
Oh said, "On roughly half of the 400,000–500,000-square-meter site, we can place residential facilities and develop the rest into parks and a cutting-edge research and development (R&D) complex for physical artificial intelligence (AI)," adding, "We can secure at least 10,000 to as many as 13,000 households."
He continued, "If we build a youth-focused complex, it enables a form of housing supply that lets young people address jobs and housing in close proximity," adding, "It could be a far more effective and desirable residential complex than using part of Yongsan Park."
He also cited transportation and the residential environment as strengths. Oh explained, "With Daecheong Station and Hangnyeoul station nearby, public transit is convenient, and because the site sits by the foot of Daemosan and along Tancheon, it can secure both forest-side and waterside advantages."
The city said the project timeline would not differ much from the Yongsan Park option. Because Yongsan Park must go through soil contamination remediation, urban planning, and various permitting procedures after the return of the U.S. military base, it expects that supply would take about eight to 10 years.
Oh said, "The Tancheon water recycling center would likewise take four to five years to relocate, and another four to five years after the relocation to build the dwellings," adding, "If the government cooperates to expedite reviews by the Ministry of Economy and Finance, shortening the period by about one to two years would not be difficult."
He emphasized, "This is an alternative that can create a desirable residential complex without touching the part of Yongsan Park that should be passed down to future generations," adding, "I will make it a key topic in my meeting with the Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport so that the government's approach to supplying dwellings in Yongsan Park is withdrawn and this alternative is reviewed in depth."
Oh strongly opposed the plan the government and ruling party are reviewing to transfer to autonomous districts the authority over redevelopment and reconstruction projects of 500 households or fewer.
He said, "Seoul's urban planning authority must be exercised only after comprehensively reviewing potential side effects under metropolitan-level considerations," adding, "A proposal to hand off projects of 500 households or fewer to district mayors is closer to an improvised campaign pledge you might hear during an election."
He added, "It was suddenly unveiled in political circles without any particular debate for or against or in-depth review," calling it "truly recklessly dangerous armchair administration."
Oh also stressed that a significant part of the redevelopment and reconstruction procedures already lies with autonomous districts. He said, "From designating a maintenance zone to establishing an association, project implementation approval, management and disposal approval, and on to demolition and groundbreaking, there are about nine stages," adding, "Of these, only two—zone designation review and integrated review—are under the city's authority, and the other seven stages have already been delegated to district offices."
He continued, "The most important approvals—project implementation and management and disposal—are already the district mayors' authority," adding, "Telling the public, who are not well aware of these facts, as if bottlenecks in maintenance projects stem from the Seoul Metropolitan Government, and claiming that transferring authority to autonomous districts would speed things up, is detached from reality."
Oh also raised the possibility that expanding redevelopment authority by autonomous district could intensify haphazard development and widen regional disparities.
He said, "Seoul is a single living sphere," adding, "We must comprehensively review urban infrastructure such as transportation, water and sewer, and gas and electricity to decide the layout of residential areas, the order of maintenance projects, and zone designations."
He added, "If we spur competition among autonomous districts to push maintenance projects, disparities will inevitably arise between districts that are proactive on redevelopment and reconstruction and those that are not," adding, "We must set the direction only after fully reviewing experts' opinions and the side effects anticipated on the ground."