Incheon Free Economic Zone General Hospital Construction Materializes... Cheongna Medical Complex Town Project Operator Recruitment

Severance Hospital with 500 Beds Scheduled to Open in Songdo in 2025
Feasibility Study for Yeongjongdo General Hospital Construction to Start in March

Cheongna International City Panorama
Photo by Incheon Free Economic Zone Authority

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Hyesook] This year, the construction of large general hospitals in the Songdo, Cheongna, and Yeongjong areas of the Incheon Free Economic Zone is becoming visible. The medical complex town, a representative issue in Cheongna, is calling for business operators after more than five years of project promotion, and a feasibility study for the construction of the first general hospital on Yeongjong Island is also set to begin soon.

According to the Incheon Free Economic Zone Authority on the 6th, the medical complex town being promoted in Cheongna International City will be activated in earnest with the start of the business operator recruitment.

The Incheon Free Economic Zone Authority plans to hold a business briefing session at the Sheraton Seoul Palace Hotel on the 9th, receive business proposals by March 30, and select a preferred negotiation partner in April.

In this recruitment, the Incheon Free Economic Zone Authority will divide the 261,000㎡ project site into industrial facility land and support facility land and receive business plans including a general hospital, medical bio-related industry-academia-research facilities, office facilities, and commercial facilities. In particular, to preserve the development purpose of the medical complex town, the size of the general hospital, which will serve as an anchor, is mandated to be at least 500 beds.

Originally, the Incheon Free Economic Zone Authority signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with Cha Hospital Group to promote the Cheongna Medical Complex Town, but since the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy's Free Economic Zone Committee decided in April last year to call for business operators, preparations for recruitment have been underway.

An official from the Incheon Free Economic Zone Authority said, "The Cheongna Medical Complex Town will cluster bio-related industry-academia-research facilities such as medical and educational institutions and convenience facilities for medical tourists," adding, "Considering its proximity to Incheon International Airport, we will focus on fostering the high value-added medical tourism industry to make it Asia's top medical complex town like Singapore Biopolis and Dubai Healthcare City."

In Songdo International City, Severance Hospital with more than 500 beds is scheduled to be established in 2025. The Incheon Free Economic Zone Authority recently signed a land supply reservation agreement for 338,494㎡ in Songdo District 11 with Yonsei University and Songdo International Complex Development Co., Ltd.

This is a measure to maintain the contents of the second phase of the Yonsei University International Campus development project agreement, which expired at the end of last year.

The land supply reservation includes building Severance Hospital with more than 500 beds and attracting more than 1,000 research personnel such as graduate students and postdoctoral researchers to successfully create an advanced industry-academia-research cluster.

The Incheon Free Economic Zone Authority plans to change the implementation plan of the Songdo International Complex after the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy's development plan review around April and then sign a business agreement and formal land sales contract around September.

Previously, in March 2018, the Incheon Free Economic Zone Authority and Yonsei University agreed on the second phase of the Yonsei University International Campus and the construction of Severance Hospital and the creation of a Science Park. Severance Hospital with more than 500 beds will be built on the existing international campus site in Songdo District 7.

In Yeongjong, part of the Incheon Free Economic Zone where there is not a single general hospital, the construction of a general hospital equipped with an emergency medical center is being promoted.

The Incheon Free Economic Zone Authority plans to start a feasibility study in March to build a general hospital on a 105,000㎡ site owned by the Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH) in Unnam-dong, Jung-gu, Yeongjong Sky City, and complete it around September.

Through the study, the Incheon Free Economic Zone Authority will analyze the appropriate number of beds and medical departments and prepare an optimized plan for attracting a general hospital, including establishing an emergency medical system, and will call for business operators around November this year.

Yeongjong Island has 90,000 residents and a floating population of 280,000, including airport workers and users, but there is not a single general hospital. Because of this, emergency patients are frequently transported across Yeongjong Bridge or Incheon Bridge to large general hospitals.

About 12,000 Yeongjong residents submitted a petition urging the attraction of a general hospital to the Incheon Free Economic Zone Authority and Jung-gu in August last year, and Incheon City formed a six-party consultative body for the construction of a general hospital, including the City Council, the Free Economic Zone Authority, Jung-gu, LH, and Incheon International Airport Corporation.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.