Establishing Logistics Facilities on Idle Highway Land... Responding to Increased Demand

Perspective view of the logistics center to be built on the vacant land near Giheung IC (Photo by Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport)

[Asia Economy Reporter Moon Jiwon] To meet the significantly increased logistics demand due to the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19), logistics facilities will be established on idle land within highways.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and Korea Expressway Corporation announced on the 29th that they decided to additionally supply logistics infrastructure by utilizing idle land on highways to respond to the rapidly increasing logistics demand caused by the spread of non-face-to-face culture.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport identified a total of 51 idle sites including green areas at highway interchanges (IC) and junctions (JCT), abandoned roads, residual land, service areas, and rest areas, and selected 34 final candidate sites (approximately 1.04 million square meters) through on-site investigations.

The candidate sites include 18 small and medium-sized sites (less than 30,000㎡) and 16 large sites (30,000㎡ or more). There are 15 sites in the metropolitan area and 19 sites outside the metropolitan area.

Once the service provider to conduct the feasibility study is selected by the end of next month, the candidate site survey results will be provided as basic data. If the service provider or logistics industry presents opinions, additional candidate sites will be discovered.

Among the candidate sites, an idle site near Giheung IC (abandoned road, 10,000㎡) was selected as a pilot project site because it is located near the metropolitan area where there is high demand from the logistics industry. A promotion plan will be established early, and a project operator will be selected this year.

Joo Hyun-jong, Director of the Road Bureau at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, said, "In a situation where it is difficult to expand logistics facilities in urban areas due to high land prices and opposition from residents, utilizing idle land on highways can improve the quality of logistics services for the public." He added, "It is also expected to have effects on traffic safety and environmental damage prevention by restricting the entry of large trucks into urban areas."

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