Gyeonggi Province Allocates 734,000 Square Meters of Industrial Areas to Yongin, Hwaseong, and Dongducheon

[Suwon Ilbo=Park No-hun] Gyeonggi Province will allocate 734,000 square meters of industrial areas outside designated industrial complexes to three cities—Yongin, Hwaseong, and Dongducheon—in the second half of this year to revitalize the regional economy and prevent haphazard development.

According to the province on the 6th, based on the ‘Fourth Metropolitan Readjustment Plan (2021-2040),’ provincial governors receive allocations from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport on a three-year basis (2021-2023) for industrial areas outside designated complexes where new construction and expansion of factories are permitted. The Ministry then approves the provincial governor's allocation based on detailed business plans submitted by provinces and cities/counties.

Provincial governors review alignment with higher-level plans and business plans before allocating quotas to each city and county.

The province received approval from the Ministry on two occasions in June last year and June this year for a total of 1.84 million square meters out of the entire 2.38 million square meters allocated to the province through 2023 for industrial areas outside designated complexes. The province allocated 621,000 square meters in 2021 (Yongin, Hwaseong, Namyangju) and 432,000 square meters in the first half of 2022 (Yangju) to each city.

For the second half of this year, the province plans to allocate 734,000 square meters: 24,000 square meters to Yongin, 125,000 square meters to Hwaseong, and 585,000 square meters to Dongducheon (approximately 102 standard soccer fields of 7,140 square meters each).

The second half allocation will be finalized after review of detailed business plans including location appropriateness, land use plans, and infrastructure plans for the three cities.
With this, the allocation to cities and counties out of approved industrial area quotas outside designated complexes will total 1.787 million square meters (75% of the total).

Since the province's 2.38 million square meters allocation automatically expires after 2023, the province plans to allocate the remaining 593,000 square meters without delay through demand surveys from cities/counties and monitoring of project implementation status.

Based on plans submitted by each city when receiving approval from the Ministry for industrial area allocations outside designated complexes, Yongin plans to pursue systematic management of individually-sited factories through comprehensive redevelopment of aging factories and areas with mixed uses, and to attract factories relocating from overly congested regions.

Hwaseong plans to guide factory locations linked to nearby industrial facilities through attraction of Hyundai-Kia vendor companies, preventing haphazard development through systematic and planned improvements. Dongducheon plans to discover new sources of local revenue through attraction of large-scale factories, contributing to balanced development between Gyeonggi's southern and northern regions.

Hong Ji-seon, head of the Urban and Housing Division of Gyeonggi Province, stated, “To date, the allocation rate for provincial quotas is 16.7% for the south and 83.8% for the north, allocating more to the north to pursue balanced regional development.”

Industrial areas outside designated industrial complexes refer to areas of 30,000 square meters or larger designated for industrial use in industrial zones designated under the ‘Framework Act on National Land Planning and Utilization’ and in district unit planning zones and development promotion zones under the ‘National Land Planning Act.’

Despite not being designated industrial complexes, new factory attraction is possible in these areas, contributing to regional development.