Daegu City Accelerates Construction of Library and Peace Park on Camp Walker Site ... "Immediate Return Decision"

SOFA Special Joint Committee Decides to Return East Runway and Helicopter Pad Site at Camp Walker
Ministry of National Defense to Conduct Environmental Cleanup in First Half of Next Year... Construction of Library and Others to Begin in Second Half

Daegu Representative Library Bird's-eye View.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Dong-wook] Daegu City announced on the 14th that the 'Camp Walker East Runway and Helicopter Landing Site,' which was decided to be returned in 2002, was finally agreed to be 'immediately returned' at the 'SOFA Special Joint Committee' held on the 11th.

Daegu City has been preparing for the return by completing the payment of 31.6 billion KRW for the site purchase by 2014 and completing the replacement site suspension work and facility relocation work in 2019.

Especially this year, through active cooperation with local political circles, the city continuously requested the central government to address residents' long-standing demands, resulting in the completion of the 'Environmental Pollution Survey and Risk Assessment' in September and the final immediate return agreement in December.

Currently, in the Nam-gu area of Daegu, U.S. military bases such as Camp Walker, Camp Henry, and Camp George occupy an area of 1.07 million square meters, acting as an obstacle to regional development.

Even the 'Camp Walker Helicopter Landing Site' returned this time was decided to be returned according to the Korea-U.S. Combined Land Management Plan (LPP) in 2002 and was originally scheduled to be returned by 2007. However, due to repeated difficulties in negotiations with the U.S. Forces Korea, the project progress was sluggish, and residents who were tired of waiting were filled with dissatisfaction.

With the final return of this site, which was a stumbling block to regional development, Daegu City can now actively promote the construction of the Daegu Representative Library, Daegu Peace Park, and the 3rd Ring Road, which have been under preparation.

Location map of the eastern runway and helipad site of Camp Walker, a returned US military base site.

Among the returned sites (66,884㎡), the Daegu Library, which will serve as Daegu's representative library and is being built on the helicopter landing site (28,967㎡), is currently in the basic and detailed design phase and is expected to be completed by April next year. In addition, the design of Daegu Peace Park and the underground public parking lot has also begun.

The Daegu Library will be constructed with a project cost of 69.4 billion KRW, consisting of 4 floors above ground and 1 basement floor, with a total floor area of 14,953㎡. The creation of Daegu Peace Park will cover an area of 58,050㎡ with a project cost of 4.88 billion KRW.

On the east runway site (37,917㎡) among the returned sites, the 3rd Ring Road of Daegu City is currently in the basic and detailed design phase and is expected to be completed by May next year. Regarding the 'Camp Walker West Road' (600m), which remains the last disconnected section of the entire 25.2 km 3rd Ring Road, and the 47 Supply Depot (9,400㎡), a 'Military Facility Relocation Consultation' was requested to the Ministry of National Defense in November.

In the first half of 2021, the Ministry of National Defense plans to conduct environmental pollution cleanup work on the returned site. Daegu City plans to consult with the Ministry of National Defense so that construction of planned projects such as the library can begin as soon as the cleanup and verification work is completed, possibly starting in the second half of the year.

Mayor Kwon Young-jin of Daegu said, "We welcome the immediate return agreement of the Camp Walker Helicopter Landing Site, which has been a long-standing wish of residents near Nam-gu, together with 2.5 million citizens," and emphasized, "We will actively promote construction projects such as the library on the site to enable balanced development of Daegu's entire urban space along with the development of the Seodaegu Station area."

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