The MOLIT’s new move comes on the heels of the ‘airport facilities’ law which took effect in March, amid a growing number of accidents caused by bird strikes in recent years, which saw facilities with a possible risk prohibited from being built in the vicinity of an airport. (Image: Kobiz Media)
SEOUL, June 7 (Korea Bizwire) – The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport (MOLIT) is set to introduce new reforms to the current aviation law concerning bird strikes, which will determine whether or not facilities that could attract birds can be built near airports, the government branch announced yesterday.
The MOLIT’s new move comes on the heels of the ‘airport facilities’ law which took effect in March, amid a growing number of accidents caused by bird strikes in recent years, which saw facilities with a possible risk prohibited from being built in the vicinity of an airport.
Since 2011, more than one thousand accidents had occurred as of last July, while showing an upward trend in number.
When the new reforms come into effect, facilities such as hog farms, orchards, and markets will be prohibited from being built within 3 kilometers of an airport, while landfill sites for food garbage will be banned within a radius of 8 kilometers.
The new rules are in accordance with the International Civil Aviation Organization’s guidelines for the prevention of bird strikes.
Prior to March, when the airport facilities law was put in place for the first time in South Korea, no particular law explicitly prohibited facilities with a risk such as hog farms and orchards from being constructed near an airport, while the previous guidelines for the prevention of bird strikes only advised against building such facilities, but lacked specifics and were not legally binding.
M.H.Lee (mhlee@koreabizwire.com)
