Nowon-gu Dobong Driver's License Test Center Relocation Near Jangam Station, Uijeongbu-si Becomes Visible

On the 13th, a video conference at Uijeongbu City Hall with Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon, Nowon District Mayor Oh Seung-rok, and Uijeongbu Mayor Ahn Byung-yong led to the signing of a business agreement pledging 'mutual growth and co-prosperity'

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jong-il] The relocation of the Dobong Driver’s License Test Center, the biggest obstacle in the development of the Changdong train depot on Subway Line 4, the heart of Nowon-gu, is expected to become a reality soon.

Nowon-gu (Mayor Oh Seung-rok) announced on the 14th that it has reached an agreement with related organizations to relocate the driver’s license test center near Jangam Station on Subway Line 7 in Uijeongbu City.

In this regard, on the 13th, Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon, Nowon-gu Mayor Oh Seung-rok, and Uijeongbu Mayor Ahn Byung-yong signed a business agreement pledging “mutual growth and co-prosperity” through a video conference held at Uijeongbu City Hall.

Taking this opportunity, these organizations agreed not only to relocate the driver’s license test center near Jangam Station but also to jointly resolve long-standing local issues and residents’ demands.

△ Administrative district changes around Surak River City 1 and 2 apartment complexes in Jangam-dong, located on the border between Nowon-gu and Uijeongbu City △ Support for the construction of Uijeongbu and Howon complex sports facilities △ Support for the development of the Jangam Station transfer parking lot.

A working-level council will also be formed for efficient project implementation. It will prepare detailed implementation plans for related projects and coordinate and consult on each project’s progress.

The breakthrough in the long-stalled relocation of the driver’s license test center came after Uijeongbu City broadly accepted the proposals from Nowon-gu and Seoul City.

Since the second half of 2018, after the start of the 7th local government term, Nowon-gu has arranged about ten working-level meetings led by the head of Seoul City’s Regional Development Headquarters to actively facilitate discussions between Seoul City and Uijeongbu. It acted as a mediator to reconcile the sharply differing opinions of both sides.

With this cooperation, the 264,820㎡ area of the Changdong train depot, located in Nowon-gu’s transportation and commercial hub, has opened a new chapter for integrated development with the Dobong Driver’s License Test Center. The train depot (197,400㎡) is confirmed to relocate to Jinjeop, Namyangju, with replacement depot construction scheduled for completion by 2024, after which development will begin. However, the driver’s license test center (67,420㎡) had not finalized its relocation site, making simultaneous development with the train depot difficult.

The district plans to develop the Changdong train depot area into the “world’s best bio-medical cluster.” For this, a world-class hospital with outstanding research capabilities is essential as the core anchor facility. They plan to build a large hospital with about 1,000 beds to attract medical tourists from around the world and establish a bio-medical industrial ecosystem by attracting bio, medical, and healthcare-related companies centered around the hospital.

Since May last year, they have been cooperating with Seoul City and Seoul National University Hospital, and a rough portfolio is expected by July this year. Once full-scale construction begins in 2024, it is anticipated to become a hub for innovative growth industries creating 80,000 jobs.

Nowon-gu benchmarks the eastern United States (Boston), centered on MGH (Massachusetts General Hospital), the world’s top research hospital, which has built an innovative medical industry ecosystem with global pharmaceutical companies, and the western United States (San Francisco), which has recently emerged as a center of the digital healthcare industry leading the 4th Industrial Revolution era, with global IT giants like Google and Apple competitively entering the bio industry.

Oh Seung-rok, Mayor of Nowon-gu, said, “This cooperation for relocating the driver’s license test center is significant as it marks the beginning of resolving long-standing local issues simultaneously,” and added, “We will do our best to ensure that the area around the relocated train depot site is reborn as a new economic hub in the northeastern metropolitan area.”

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