Newly Designated Area for Nationwide Urban Development Projects Surges 1.6 Times

[Asia Economy Reporter Yoo In-ho] The newly designated area for urban development projects nationwide surged by 1.6 times compared to the previous year.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced on the 26th the status statistics of urban development zones nationwide as of the end of 2019, based on a survey of urban development projects conducted on 17 metropolitan local governments and others.

According to the statistics, the number of newly designated urban development zones last year was 36, the same as the previous year, but the increased area was 9.4㎢, which is 1.6 times more than the previous year's 5.9㎢.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport analyzed that the increase in area was large due to the inclusion of some large-scale zones such as the Namyangju Yangjeong Station Complex Development Project in Gyeonggi Province (2㎢). Among the newly designated zones last year, the metropolitan area had 19 zones covering 5.3㎢, a significant increase compared to the previous year (2.1㎢), while 17 zones covering 4.1㎢ were newly designated in local areas.

Accordingly, since the enforcement of the Urban Development Act in 2000 until now, the total number of designated urban development zones nationwide is 524, with a total area of 167.5㎢. Among these, 218 zones covering 58.2㎢ have been completed, and 306 zones (109.3㎢) are currently under development.

This is approximately 58 times the area of Yeouido (2.9㎢). Last year, 29 urban development projects such as the Busan Ilgwang zone (1.2㎢) and Goyang Siksa zone in Gyeonggi Province (0.99㎢) were completed, supplying 8.21㎢ of urban land for residential, commercial, and office use.

However, as public housing district projects such as the 3rd New Towns have been actively promoted, the proportion of urban development zones has gradually decreased. Among the total designated area of 38.2㎢ for newly designated complex and urban area development projects (public housing districts and industrial complexes) last year, the designation ratio of urban development zones was 24.6% (9.4㎢), down from 36.7% in 2018.

By region, Gyeonggi Province, where development pressure is high, had the largest scale with 172 zones covering 54㎢, followed by ▲Gyeongnam with 59 zones (18㎢) ▲Chungnam with 59 zones (14㎢) ▲Gyeongbuk with 46 zones (12㎢).

By project implementer, the proportion of private implementers was relatively high at 68.0% (208 projects), compared to 32.0% (98 projects) for public implementers. By development type, residential projects (73.7%) accounted for a relatively higher proportion than non-residential projects (26.3%).

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport analyzed the effects of newly designated urban development zones over the past five years, estimating that an average of 7.0㎢ of new designations per year involved an investment of about 1.7 trillion KRW (construction costs), resulting in an economic ripple effect of 4.8 trillion KRW. It was also analyzed that about 21,000 jobs were created.

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