The ‘Songdo Waterfront Project’ is schedule to start in the latter half of this year. The project will connect the canals and lakes around Songdo International City in the Incheon Free Economic Zone. (Image : Yonhap)
INCHEON, Aug. 19 (Korea Bizwire) – The ‘Songdo Waterfront Project’ is schedule to start in the latter half of this year. The project will connect the canals and lakes around Songdo International City in the Incheon Free Economic Zone.
The local government announced that they would establish a master plan for the Songdo Waterfront Project in October. This stage is estimated to cost 6.5 billion won.
The project will continue over the next decade, costing a total of 686.2 billion won. It will be executed in three stages to connect artificial canals and a lake in a square shape surrounding the city. To preserve the water in the canals, a system that rotates sea water will be built.
The Incheon treasury estimated that 261.5 billion won will be needed for the first stage (2016 to 2019), 36.2 billion won during the second stage (2020 to 2022) and 386.9 billion won for the third stage (2023 to 2025).
Once the Waterfront Project is completed, an artificial beach where you can enjoy the sea breeze, yachts and sunsets of the west sea will be just an hour away from Gangnam, Seoul. Also, docks for ferry boats, marine recreational facilities, outdoor stages and eco parks are planned to be built.
Incheon is anticipating that the waterfront will make groundbreaking changes to the value of the city.
However, voices of concern are rising that the Songdo Waterfront Project will be Incheon’s version of the Four-river Refurbishment Project. Environmental issues as well as financial issues are generating controversy. There is great concern that the financial difficulties of Incheon might be aggravated.
Non-governmental organizations expressed their skeptical thoughts about the project. “Even if the project is executed in three stages until 2025, the local government will face resistance from citizens if they only concentrate on building a new city instead of paying attention to the welfare of the city.”
By M.H.Lee (mhlee@koreabizwire.com)
