Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Officially Begins Basic Planning Service for Gadeokdo New Airport

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Min-young] The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced on the 31st that it will commence a service to establish the basic plan for Gadeokdo New Airport.

The Gadeokdo New Airport construction project completed a preliminary feasibility study by April this year after the special law was enacted and promulgated in March last year, and was exempted from the preliminary feasibility study.

During the process of establishing the basic plan, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport plans to objectively review various opinions derived so far without being bound by the construction period and construction methods (reclamation type, floating type, etc.) presented in the preliminary feasibility study, and prepare the optimal alternative.

In particular, the ministry will transparently share the progress and review contents of the service through frequent consultations with local governments, and conduct thorough technical reviews such as marine ground surveys, numerical model experiments, construction method and obstacle reviews, and flight safety simulations to ensure the safety and quality of the new airport in the basic plan.

Furthermore, considering that Gadeokdo New Airport is located offshore, requiring a large-scale project cost and high construction difficulty, and the need for prompt construction to support the hosting of the 2030 Busan World Expo, the ministry plans to review construction methods including ways to shorten the construction period. It will also prepare plans for the project organization (such as the construction corporation) responsible for the new airport construction work to ensure that design and construction proceed swiftly after the establishment of the basic plan.

In the environmental field, a detailed marine and terrestrial ecological survey will be conducted during the strategic environmental impact assessment process, and active measures to mitigate unavoidable environmental damage caused by the construction of Gadeokdo New Airport will be prepared.

Hadong-su, Director of the Aviation Policy Office at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, said, "We will do our best to establish a solid basic plan so that it can become a premium airport that serves as a new growth engine for the Busan-Ulsan-Gyeongnam region," and added, "We will make every effort to shorten the construction period as much as possible through technical reviews by experts and engineers and consultations with related organizations and local governments."

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