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Saemangeum Gunsan Free Economic Zone (SGFEZ) Authority is speeding up efforts to reclaim the Saemangeum area - once an estuarine tidal flat on South Korea’s Yellow Sea coast in North Jeolla Province - to be an international business complex with nature and high technology
combined.
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(16.596㎢) and Gunjang National Industrial Complex (17.428㎢) - and the authority plans to put 5.1059 trillion won in the business,” Lee Choon-hee (pictured), Commissioner of the SGFEZ Authority, said in an interview with The Asia Business.
“A late bloomer in industrialization, North Jeolla Province, has particularly high hopes for the role of the free economic zone (FEZ) in ultimately reshaping the industrial landscape of Korea,” Lee said.
“The SGFEZ Authority will make a blue print for a project reclaiming the Saemangeum area.”
The Saemangeum reclaiming project is a national one to ultimately give Korea an additional 401㎢ of land, equal to twothirds of the total area of Seoul or 160 times the size of Yeouido. It is simply the largest such project since the founding of the nation and one of the world’s largest landfills.
This official development phase marks the first major industrial development project to be led by the Lee Myung-bak administration.
The Saemangeum area and port city of Gunsan will jointly house an international business complex by 2020, devoted to boosting the automobile, shipbuilding and machinery industries, and
tourism.
The SGFEZ Authority has immersed in the government-level project in earnest since its establishment on August 28, 2009.
Out of Saemangeum development projects, the authority is primarily focusing on creating the industrial and tourism complex available for early development.
“The industrial complex will be upgraded into a complex city with diverse functions of business, city, and residence place as well as industry by 2018,” Lee said. “By proceeding reclamation works and creating the industrial district simultaneously for its early development, we will rapidly provide investors with the industrial land.”
Mr. Lee explained the authority will found the best complex maritime tourist resort with large-scale golf course and luxury shopping mall outlet in the Saemangeum Tourist Zone. The authority
will get into a ‘gateway project’ for developing approximately 1.0㎢ within the zone in November, spurring the surrounding areas to push their development projects.
Lee especially stressed on the active government’s support for resident firms. The land on SGFEZ is the only spot available to long-term lease for 100 years in Korea with no limit on the size of buying land.
“The reclaimed areas are not bound by any private ownership and pertinent regulations, backing the SGFEZ’s position that its leasing process is simpler and faster than those of other FEZs in Korea,” Mr. Lee said.
“In addition, we offer eased regulations for income and corporate taxes for foreign investors for the first 7 years of business and give cash incentives mounting to 5 percent of the total investment per corporation,” he said.
There are actually lots of enterprises showing their will of developing the Saemangeum Industrial Zone and Gunjang National Industrial Complex.
“As Korean large enterprises, including Hyundai Heavy Industries and Doosan Infracore, already
finished selling the land of Gunjang National Industrial Complex in lots, more foreign companies showed interestes in Saemangeum,” the commissioner said.
“A German wind power firm located in Hamburg submitted a letter of intention to invest and many companies overseas also announced their will to develop a theme park and industrial complex,” he added.
The global economic downturn does not make for the best of circumstances in attracting foreign businesses, but Lee said that some hopeful signs are emerging, as in the case of the recent Middle East engagement.
In particular, recent reports indicate that businesses based in China are interested in future investments for the Saemangeum area.
“We are still trying to raise the profile of the SGFEZ in the global business community. Since the opening of the SGFEZ Authority, we have constantly maintained contacts with interested corporations from other parts of Asia, Europe and the United States,” Lee said.
Commissioner Lee is a native of Gochang, North Jeolla Province. After attending high school in Gwangju, he moved to Seoul in 1974 and entered Korea University, majoring in public administration. He joined the Ministry of Construction and Transportation after passing a state examination for selecting officials of the central government service in 1977.
After 30 years with the ministry, Mr. Lee moved back to his hometown of North Jeolla Province and took office as the first commissioner of SGFEZ Authority on August, 2008.
By Jung, Eunsun
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Park Sae-jin
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