Seeking Land Use Fee Reduction and Other Measures to Establish an International School
Incheon Urban Corporation (iH) has begun seeking solutions with related organizations to revitalize the Yeongjongdo Midan City (Golden Terrace City) development project, which is facing the risk of the complex resort being canceled.
iH announced on the 24th that it has formed a consultative body (TF) with Incheon City and the Incheon Free Economic Zone Authority to explore ways to discover new operators (investors) for Midan City and to activate the project.
The consultative body was established in response to the situation where the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism did not approve the extension of the project period for the Midan City casino complex resort in March, and recently, the real estate market has deteriorated due to rising interest rates, causing stagnation in the PF market and impacting the Midan City development project.
Earlier, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism did not approve the extension of the project period requested by RFKR (the Korean subsidiary of China’s Fuli Group), the operator of the Midan City complex resort, in March last year.
The ministry decided not to extend the project period, citing the low possibility of resuming construction and the fact that some of the previously set conditions had not been fulfilled, based on the review by the evaluation committee.
The original project end date was March 17, 2018, but it had been extended four times thereafter. However, due to this decision by the ministry, RFKR can no longer pursue the foreigner-only casino business.
The RFKR complex resort project involves an investment of a total of $735 million (approximately 900 billion KRW) to build a luxury hotel, a foreigner-only casino, convention facilities, and more in Midan City. However, construction has been halted since February 2020, when the progress rate was 24.5%, because the developer failed to pay the subcontracted construction companies on time.
iH and the consultative body are reviewing the natural advantages of Midan City, such as mountains, sea, and sunsets, along with real estate market trends focused on residential and educational aspects, and based on the discussions, they are considering changing the development concept from an existing tourism and leisure complex to a residential complex with enhanced residential functions.
They also plan to prepare measures that can be provided as a landowner, such as reducing land usage fees, to attract an international school within Midan City. The Incheon Free Economic Zone Authority is currently promoting a public offering project for the international school.
An iH official stated, "We will prepare various measures to alleviate concerns of existing buyers and local residents caused by the prolonged development of Midan City. Additionally, we plan to accelerate the attraction of the international school, which has been underway since 2022, and promptly proceed with park projects such as installing coastal decks in parallel."
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