'13 Years Adrift' Incheon Robot Land to Normalize? ... Approval of Business Plan Change

Approval of Revised Implementation Plan Reducing Residential and Thematic Land Ratios
Development and Implementation Plan Approvals Within the Year, Construction Starting in 2022... Completion in 2024

Incheon Robot Land Site [Provided by Incheon City]

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Hyesook] The Incheon Robot Land development project, which had been stalled for 13 years after the selection of the business operator, has taken a step toward normalization with the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy's approval of the change in the development execution plan.

On the 30th, Incheon City announced that the revised Incheon Robot Land development execution plan, which reduced the ratio of residential land and theme park land, had received approval from the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.

The city initially submitted a change plan to the ministry in November 2018 to improve profitability, as the originally approved 2012 development execution plan allocated 57% of the area to the theme park including parking lots, and 83% to non-profit areas including roads and parks.

However, the change was not approved due to the high ratio of residential land and theme park land, which was deemed inconsistent with the purpose of fostering the robot industry and raised fairness issues with Gyeongnam Robot Land.

Accordingly, the city revised the change plan to reduce the amusement facilities including the theme park from 340,000㎡ to 160,000㎡, completely eliminate the 43,000㎡ of residential land, and increase the land for robot industry promotion facilities, which passed the ministry's review.

Following the approval of the project plan change, the city plans to proceed with administrative procedures such as development and implementation plan approval under the Free Economic Zone Act within this year, and sign a business promotion agreement with Incheon Urban Corporation, Incheon Technopark, and Incheon Robot Land Co., Ltd. Subsequently, by next year, the city aims to complete the Robot Land master plan service, infrastructure and public facility design services, start construction in 2022, and complete it by 2024.

Incheon Robot Land Bird's-eye View [Provided by Incheon City]

The city plans to invest 712.4 billion KRW to build a robot tower, robot research and development center, robot theme park, and more on a 769,000㎡ site in Cheongna International City (Wonnam-dong), Seo-gu, creating a robot industry cluster that integrates the 4th Industrial Revolution and advanced new technologies.

Previously, in 2017, the city completed a 23-story robot tower and a 5-story robot research and development center, but the rest of the facilities saw no progress due to failure in attracting private investment. Incheon was selected by the government as a local government for Robot Land development along with Masan, Gyeongnam in 2007.

Incheon City expects that upon completion of the Robot Land project, the number of robot companies in Incheon will increase from the current 60 to 400, and employment will rise from 430 to 6,000, establishing itself as an innovation hub for the domestic robot industry.

A city official stated, "With a 95% occupancy rate of companies in the robot tower and research and development center completed in the first phase in 2017, corporate interest in Incheon Robot Land is high. We will devote all efforts to attracting major domestic anchor companies," adding, "Through revitalizing the robot industry, we will strengthen the self-sufficiency of Seo-gu, including Cheongna International City."

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