Vacant Passenger Terminal Left Idle... Transformed into Youth Startup and Cultural Space

The Incheon Port Passenger Terminal, which had been left vacant for a long time due to the impact of COVID-19, has been transformed into a youth startup and cultural facility. An exhibition space was created to showcase works by young artists, and as the number of visitors increased, it was reborn as a new landmark.

This transformation was made possible when the Korea Water Resources Corporation established the first dedicated proactive administration team among public institutions in 2020. The corporation’s company-wide expansion of pre-consultation and proactive administration exemption systems had a significant effect. In particular, the proactive administration exemption system played a major role in overcoming institutional limitations. This system exempts or reduces liability for results achieved through sincere and proactive work for the public interest, provided there is no intentional or gross negligence.

This is why the Korea Water Resources Corporation was able to transform the Ara Waterway passenger terminal space, which had been left vacant last year, into a youth startup, cultural, and artistic space. In fact, when passenger operations were suspended due to COVID-19, the Ara Waterway Incheon Passenger Terminal rental facilities remained vacant for a long time. The corporation promoted the 'Ara Waterway Youth Startup and Art Space Free Rental' to allow local young entrepreneurs and artists to work without burden in the terminal’s rental facilities.

To provide free rental, the corporation needed to resolve the principle of charging fees when leasing national facilities under the National Property Act. To obtain approval for free rental from the management authority, which holds the permit rights for port facilities, the corporation emphasized the public interest of ‘creating youth startup and cultural art spaces’ rather than a simple administrative purpose. This is because rent exemption is only possible with the management authority’s approval when used for current administrative purposes.

After investigating all cases nationwide related to rent reductions, the corporation communicated with relevant agencies to reflect the rental period at the maximum level. Thanks to the corporation’s efforts, the management authority approved a 100% rent exemption and a rental period of 4 years. As a result, a total of 9 teams of young entrepreneurs and artists moved in, achieving a current vacancy rate of zero (0%).

The corporation’s proactive administration can also be seen in its efforts to prevent algal blooms. Algal blooms in dam reservoirs, which mainly occur in summer, have been identified as a major cause of distrust in water quality. Until now, activated carbon and other chemicals or algal bloom removal vessels were used to eliminate algal blooms, but since these are all after-the-fact measures, fundamental preventive measures were needed.

The corporation devised a method to prevent algal blooms by creating a large-scale algal bloom field upstream of the dam, the first of its kind in Korea. The so-called 'Algal Bloom Eradication Field' is based on the principle that the nutrients feeding the algal blooms are consumed by the overgrown algae themselves. By installing a barrier upstream of the dam, the algae excessively consume the nutrients, reducing the nutrients flowing downstream. According to the corporation, as a pilot project in the upper section of Daecheong Dam, nutrients in the algal bloom eradication field were reduced by 34%, and 1,200 tons of algal blooms were intensively collected.

Additionally, the corporation supplies water directly to areas without local water supply by utilizing the metropolitan waterworks. By introducing ‘metropolitan direct supply,’ currently 12,000 people in 18 regions benefit from water supply. This plan is reflected in the '2040 National Waterworks Basic Plan,' and by 2030, 25.4 billion KRW will be invested to provide water welfare benefits to a total of 222 locations and 19,000 people.

Along with this, the corporation proactively discloses government ESG (Environment, Social, Governance) recommended indicators in addition to mandatory management disclosures to ensure transparency of information. The corporation discloses 492 ESG information items, which is 135% of the average for SOC (Social Overhead Capital) public enterprises, and has extended the information disclosure period from the previous 3 years to 5 years. Furthermore, to provide high-quality public data, the corporation has steadily established a data management system by developing its own quality control system, operating data diagnostic algorithms, and quality diagnosis consultative bodies. As a result, it achieved a data quality grade of 1 with an average error rate of 0.002%.

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