"If Possible, as a Global Platform" ... Ulsan City Promotes Expansion of National Carbon Neutrality Specialized Science Museum

Last Month, Ministry of Science and ICT Requested Construction Site of 20,000㎡ and 49 Billion KRW

Ulsan City Hall.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Yong-woo] Ulsan City has decided to significantly expand the construction scale of the National Ulsan Carbon Neutrality Specialized Science Museum it has attracted.

On the 7th, Ulsan City announced that it visited the Ministry of Science and ICT on the 25th of last month to request an expansion of the construction scale so that the Carbon Neutrality Specialized Science Museum can serve as a platform to disseminate domestic and international carbon neutrality technologies nationwide.

The Carbon Neutrality Specialized Science Museum is the nation's first national science museum dedicated to exhibiting and promoting core scientific technologies in the field of carbon neutrality. It aims to open in 2025, with construction procedures set to be actively pursued starting this year.

The construction scale requested by Ulsan City includes a site area of 20,200㎡ and a total project cost of 49 billion KRW, which is 1.7 times larger in site area and 9 billion KRW more in total project cost compared to the original plan of 12,000㎡ site area and 40 billion KRW total project cost.

If the site area is expanded as requested by Ulsan City, the total floor area of the building can be expanded up to 16,000㎡ based on three floors.

The expansion of the construction scale will be decided based on the results of the basic construction plan establishment service scheduled to be commissioned by the Ministry of Science and ICT in the first half of this year. A key variable is how much of the old military base site around Ulsan Grand Park, the currently known construction location, will be reflected as the actual construction site area.

While Ulsan City insists that the entire site should be used for the specialized science museum construction, the Ministry of Science and ICT is reportedly reviewing whether it is necessary to purchase up to 6,800㎡ of Grade 2 environmental evaluation land, where preservation of the original state is a concern, during the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport’s approval process for development activities in the restricted development zone.

Although Ulsan City does not have direct authority to decide the construction scale since the construction entity is the national government, it plans to actively participate in the upcoming basic construction plan establishment process to ensure the expansion of the construction scale.

To build the specialized science museum on the restricted development zone site, the construction scale including site area and total floor area must be specified in the restricted development zone management plan and approved by the Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.

Ulsan City plans to expedite the necessary administrative procedures for the construction of the specialized science museum, such as changes to the restricted development zone management plan, urban management plan decisions, and park creation plan decisions, by securing 180 million KRW for service fees in the first supplementary budget of this year.

Park Soon-cheol, Director of the Innovation Industry Bureau of Ulsan City, said, “The scale is very important for the national specialized science museum to serve as a platform to disseminate domestic and international carbon neutrality technologies nationwide,” and added, “We will build it as a national facility for Ulsan’s centennial future through active consultations with central government ministries.”

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