Gyeongnam Province Urges Swift Progress to Ministry of Economy and Finance and Korea Development Institute
[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Jucheol In] Gyeongsangnam-do announced on the 20th that it is making every effort to shorten administrative procedures by completing the preliminary feasibility study and basic plan design appropriateness review within the year for the large-scale national projects in the province, Jinhae New Port and the Southern Inland Railroad construction project.
On the same day, Gyeongnam Province reported that Park Jong-won, Deputy Governor for Economic Affairs, attended the Jinhae New Port preliminary feasibility study subcommittee held at the Korea Development Institute (KDI) and actively urged the Ministry of Strategy and Finance and subcommittee members to pass the preliminary feasibility study for Jinhae New Port, which will become a world-class logistics hub port.
In this subcommittee, a comprehensive evaluation is derived through three evaluation criteria: economic feasibility, policy suitability, and regional balanced development. The final results are expected to be announced after approval by the Ministry of Strategy and Finance’s Fiscal Project Evaluation Committee.
Gyeongnam Province secured 14.5 billion KRW in national funding for the Jinhae New Port construction project on the 3rd of this month, and if the preliminary feasibility study passes by the end of December, it plans to officially start the basic survey service for the first phase of the Jinhae New Port project in the first half of next year.
Jinhae New Port is Gyeongnam’s largest national project, investing 12 trillion KRW by 2040 to create a smart large-scale port with a total of 21 berths. The first phase, which involves constructing 9 berths, plans to invest a total of 7.7 trillion KRW by 2031.
Gyeongnam Province expects that once Jinhae New Port is completed, it will grow into the world’s third-largest logistics hub port capable of handling 42 million TEU by 2040, alongside Busan New Port, becoming a key hub of a global logistics center linked with Gadukdo New Airport and railroads.
Deputy Governor Park also requested Hong Jang-pyo, President of the Korea Development Institute, to expedite the design appropriateness review of the Southern Inland Railroad and complete it within the year.
The Southern Inland Railroad has a basic plan prepared to finalize the route and stations, and the Ministry of Strategy and Finance is currently reviewing the appropriateness of the total project cost. Since October, the Korea Development Institute has been conducting a design appropriateness review for the changed route and increased construction costs.
The KDI design appropriateness review is the final review stage that determines the stations and route of the Southern Inland Railroad, and once this stage is completed, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport will announce the basic plan.
Gyeongnam Province aims to complete the KDI design appropriateness review within the year and start design work in the first half of next year, as the total government budget of 95.7 billion KRW required for the Southern Inland Railroad design has been fully secured.
Gyeongnam Province also requested shortening administrative procedures necessary for the Southern Inland Railroad design appropriateness review and early commencement of construction.
To this end, it proposed dividing the entire 177.9 km route into about 10 construction sections to enable simultaneous design of all sections, and introducing a design-build lump-sum bidding method for sections with difficult or complex processes such as tunnels and special bridges to shorten the schedule as much as possible.
By minimizing administrative procedures, Gyeongnam Province expects that the Southern Inland Railroad can begin construction in 2023 and open in 2028.
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