Incheon’s First Privately Developed 'Mujugol Neighborhood Park'... Completed After 80 Years

A park developed with private capital is opening for the first time in Incheon. The city of Incheon announced that the construction of Mujugol Neighborhood Park in Seonhak-dong, Yeonsu-gu, which was promoted as the first private park special project, has been completed and will open on the 25th. It has been about 80 years since the area was designated as a park.

Mujugol Park, which is the size of 12 soccer fields (85,000㎡), features a rose garden, forest walking trails, a children's playground, an ecological learning center, and a 1.5 km walking path. Mujugol Park was designated as a park facility in 1944 but was neglected as a waste dumping site and farmland until it was selected as the first private park special project site in Incheon in 2016. Construction began in June 2020, and the park was completed after 3 years and 3 months.

The private park special project is a system where private developers create green spaces on more than 70% of the total park area and donate them to the public, while the remaining land can be developed into apartments or other facilities. This system was established after the sunset clause was introduced, which automatically nullifies the effect of long-term unexecuted urban planning facilities if the project is not implemented by June 30, 2020, following 20 years after the urban planning facility decision.

The private developer Mujugol Park invested 60 billion KRW out of the total project cost of 358.7 billion KRW to build the neighborhood park and completed an apartment complex with 767 households using the remaining budget. An Incheon city official stated, "The first park project applying the special project to preserve long-term unexecuted parks has been successfully completed, providing citizens with a comfortable resting space. A green corridor connecting Munhak Mountain and Seonhak Park has been created, and attracting all project funds from private capital has also contributed to securing Incheon’s fiscal soundness."

Scenery of Mujugol Park in Seonhak-dong, Incheon [Photo provided by Incheon City]

Meanwhile, Incheon plans to create 35 parks funded by city finances and 3 parks involving private capital by 2026. Among these, 16 parks have already been completed. The city also announced that, in particular, the Yeonhui Park in Seo-gu, which is part of the private park special project, is proceeding as planned after soil contamination tests showed that all 23 heavy metal items were either undetected or below the standard levels.

Previously, the Incheon Green Union demanded that a thorough soil environmental survey be conducted before development, citing the possibility of soil contamination due to the long-term neglect of the Yeonhui Park site, which had become cluttered with construction equipment and material storage yards. The Yeonhui Park special project involves supplying 1,370 apartment units on 73,600㎡ of the 247,700㎡ site in Yeonhui-dong and creating a park on the remaining 173,400㎡, which will be donated to the public.

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