Hampyeong-gun's 'Favoritism Suspicion' Over Subtly Removing Golf Course Permit Conditions

Construction Access Road via Donghampyeong IC Required Before Groundbreaking

'Expecting Regional Economic Revitalization' County Governor's Major Achievement Project Widely Promoted

Condition Recently Removed... Road Construction Progress Al

Hampyeong-gun, Jeollanam-do, which has been promoting the construction of a new golf course by stating that it is expected to 'revitalize the local economy,' is now facing suspicions of favoritism after quietly deleting the plan to open the golf course access road through Donghampyeong IC from the recent implementation plan (change) approval conditions.

According to Hampyeong residents and Hampyeong-gun on the 1st, final construction is underway on a site of about 1.6 million square meters in Geumgok-ri, Daedong-myeon, aiming to complete the golf course by the end of April.

This project was initially proposed in 2008 by another construction company submitting an implementation plan approval for a county planning facility (golf course) to Hampyeong-gun, but it failed to be carried out by the project deadline in 2015 and was shelved. Company A took over in 2019 and relaunched the project. It will feature a public 27-hole green, lodging facilities, and a golf village.

At the beginning of the project, residents opposed the construction of the golf course citing environmental pollution concerns. Some residents even staged a tent sit-in in front of the Jeonnam Provincial Office demanding the cancellation of permits, leading to a stalemate.

The county stated that if the golf course access road is opened through Donghampyeong IC, an adjacent highway interchange, instead of Munpyeong IC, golf course users would pass through Hampyeong, which is expected to encourage consumption activities such as drinking tea or dining, and set this as a condition.

Company A accepted this and added the plan to open the access road through Donghampyeong IC in the implementation plan approval documents.

From the perspective of revitalizing the local economy, the county decided in March 2021 to approve the implementation plan on the condition that the originally planned Munpyeong IC connecting road would be closed or converted into a green space.

Then, on April 21 of the same year, the county issued a press release emphasizing, “The project implementer requested approval to build the golf course access road near Naju Munpyeong IC, but we persistently urged the project implementer to change the access to Donghampyeong IC to contribute to local economic revitalization.”

Furthermore, it was widely promoted that “Despite the increased project costs due to design changes, the project implementer fully accepted the opinions of Hampyeong residents and decided to change the access road. This is the best result combining the will of the residents and the management CEO mindset of County Governor Lee Sang-ik.”

At the time of golf course approval, Hampyeong-gun also revealed that a survey of residents in nine towns and townships overwhelmingly favored accessing the golf course via Donghampyeong IC.

Entrance road view of the golf course.

However, this plan was quietly changed two years later, shortly before completion. The conditions of the Hampyeong county planning facility (golf course) project implementation plan (change) approval announced on the 16th of last month no longer include the related provisions. Although it was a promise to the residents, no consultation with the residents was made when changing it.

Moreover, the golf course access road is currently over 90% complete, and it is presumed that construction of the access road through Munpyeong IC had been underway even before the announcement.

Regarding this, a Hampyeong-gun official said, “The Munpyeong IC access road has many speed bumps, so cars cannot drive fast,” adding, “Ultimately, the arrival time of vehicles entering through Donghampyeong IC is not significantly different, so the related provisions were deleted.”

He continued, “If a separate golf course access road is built, Hampyeong-gun would have to bear the road construction costs,” and explained, “To prevent waste of public funds, it is better to build the road as requested by the golf course side.”