The Future of Daejeon Yuseong Complex Terminal Project to Be Decided This Month

Perspective view of Yuseong Complex Terminal. Provided by Daejeon City

[Asia Economy (Daejeon) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] The future of the Daejeon Yuseong Complex Terminal project is expected to be decided this month. The key points to watch in the Yuseong Complex Terminal project are whether the private company KPIH Co., Ltd. (hereinafter KPIH) will continue to pursue the project and the possibility of public development of the Yuseong Complex Terminal if KPIH’s project promotion fails.

According to Daejeon City and Daejeon Urban Corporation on the 8th, the Urban Corporation and KPIH amended and signed the business agreement in June to set the deadline for the land sale contract as the 18th of this month and the construction start deadline as the 18th of next month.

According to the amended agreement, KPIH must complete project financing (PF) and the land sale contract by the 18th of this month and start construction by the 18th of next month.

The remaining period until the first hurdle, the successful PF and land sale contract, is 10 days. If KPIH fails to execute this, the Urban Corporation can terminate the Yuseong Complex Terminal project contract with KPIH (revoking the developer status). This will be the last chance for KPIH to normally proceed with the Yuseong Complex Terminal project.

Prior to this, KPIH extended the PF loan deadline twice. It was first set for January, then extended to April, and extended once more to June. During this process, the special purpose company New Star Yuseong First Co., Ltd. sent a letter to the Urban Corporation stating it would recall the existing loan it had lent to KPIH for the land payment, which at one point suggested a possible split between the Urban Corporation and KPIH.

However, the Urban Corporation was hampered by the fact that the original business agreement only specified the deadline for the land sale contract and did not specify restrictions such as the period according to the project promotion procedures. Using the existing business agreement as a pretext, the Urban Corporation, partly voluntarily and partly involuntarily, changed and re-signed the business agreement with KPIH.

The possibility that the direction of the Yuseong Complex Terminal development project will be decided within this month aligns with this. KPIH may comply with the amended business agreement and proceed with the project normally, but even if it fails to do so, the Urban Corporation can terminate the business agreement with KPIH and normalize the project from another direction.

An official from the Urban Corporation said, “For the stable promotion of the Yuseong Complex Terminal development project, the success of KPIH’s PF and the conclusion of the land sale contract will be the primary key,” adding, “Regardless of the outcome, the Urban Corporation plans to focus on ensuring that the long-awaited Yuseong Complex Terminal development project in the region is no longer delayed.”

If KPIH fails to normalize the project, the option of public development of the Yuseong Complex Terminal is likely to surface. Regarding this, a city official said, “Since the project has been stalled for a long time due to continuous idling (project failure), the city does not completely rule out switching to public development,” but added, “However, public development will be considered after observing KPIH’s future progress.”

Meanwhile, the Yuseong Complex Terminal development project is planned to be carried out on a 102,080㎡ site in the Guam-dong area of Yuseong, including a complex passenger terminal building, BRT transfer center and transfer parking lot, officetels, and happy housing. The expected total project cost is 790 billion KRW.

Previously, this project repeatedly failed despite selecting developers through four rounds of public offerings in 2011, 2013, and 2018 after the first private developer recruitment in 2010 before KPIH obtained the status of private developer (preferred negotiator).

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