[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Koo Dae-sun] Gyeongbuk Province announced on the 27th that the extension project of Daegu Urban Railway Line 1 from Hayang to Yeongcheon (Geumho) was finally selected as a preliminary feasibility study target project in the fourth quarter of this year by the Ministry of Strategy and Finance’s Fiscal Project Evaluation Committee.
This project involves extending the urban railway over a 5.0 km section from Hayang Station in Gyeongsan on Daegu Urban Railway Line 1 to Geumho-eup in Yeongcheon, with a total project cost of 205.2 billion KRW.
This is the fastest among the local metropolitan railway projects reflected in the ‘4th National Railway Network Construction Plan’ announced in July last year to be included in the preliminary feasibility study target list.
Gyeongbuk Province plans to pass the preliminary feasibility study in the first half of 2024, proceed with the basic plan and design in the second half of 2025, start construction in 2026, and fully focus on opening by the end of 2029.
Daegu City, Gyeongsan City, and Yeongcheon City form a metropolitan transportation zone in terms of living and economy, but the traffic conditions on National Route 4, which handles most of the transportation, have not improved, making the expansion of a new transportation network urgent.
As a solution, Gyeongbuk Province has been promoting the prompt extension from Hayang to Yeongcheon (Geumho) using the railway network of the Daegu Line 1 extension from Ansim to Hayang, scheduled to open at the end of 2024, as a key provincial government project.
Also, the Let’s Run Park Yeongcheon (Racecourse), a large-scale tourism complex project scheduled to open at the end of 2025, is a facility with a very high public transportation usage rate. The rapid promotion of this project has been recognized as essential railway infrastructure for improving accessibility and regional economic ripple effects.
Since being reflected as a new project in the 4th National Railway Network Construction Plan in July last year, Gyeongbuk Province quickly completed a 10-month preliminary feasibility study from December of the same year to September of this year. Subsequently, in September, it requested the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport to apply for the 2022 4th preliminary feasibility study target project.
As a result, it passed the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport’s Investment Review Committee at the end of October and was officially submitted from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport to the Ministry of Strategy and Finance. Two months later, it was finally selected as a government preliminary feasibility study target project.
During this time, Gyeongbuk Governor Lee Cheol-woo actively cooperated with People Power Party lawmakers Lee Man-hee (Yeongcheon), Yoon Doo-hyun (Gyeongsan), Yeongcheon Mayor Choi Ki-moon, and Gyeongsan Mayor Jo Hyun-il to continuously persuade the central government of the necessity of the project and the need for early implementation of the preliminary feasibility study.
The preliminary feasibility study is a system in which the Ministry of Strategy and Finance thoroughly reviews large-scale new public investment projects in advance and usually takes 12 months.
If a project scores 0.5 points or higher in the comprehensive evaluation (AHP), which comprehensively considers economic evaluation (B/C), policy analysis, and regional balanced development aspects, the project promotion is finally confirmed.
Governor Lee Cheol-woo of Gyeongbuk said, “The selection of the Daegu Line 1 Yeongcheon (Geumho) extension, a long-awaited project by local residents, as a preliminary feasibility study target project in a short period means that the government has no objection to the necessity of the project,” and added, “We will do our best to pass the preliminary feasibility study in the first half of 2024 and ensure the project is promptly promoted.”
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