Conditions Significantly Eased Compared to Third Call
Area Requirement Reduced from 900,000 to 500,000 Square Meters
Prior Resident Consent No Longer Required
On May 13, the Ministry of Environment announced that it will launch the "4th Public Call for Site Candidates for the Resource Circulation Park" to secure a new metropolitan landfill site for the Seoul metropolitan area.
The Ministry of Environment explained that it has significantly lowered the entry barriers for this call. The current metropolitan landfill is located in Seo-gu, Incheon, but with its use ending this year, a replacement site must be found. However, due to opposition from local residents, the authorities failed to select a site in the first and second calls in 2021, as well as the third call last year.
To encourage participation, the Ministry reduced the required area from 900,000 square meters to 500,000 square meters, based on a 30-year usage period. Local governments must provide a landfill facility of 400,000 square meters and ancillary facilities of 100,000 square meters. Even if the area requirement is not met, candidates with a processing capacity of at least 6.15 million cubic meters may also participate in the call.
Eligibility to apply has been expanded from public entities to private parties. In the previous third call, only heads of basic local governments could apply. Starting with this fourth call, individuals, corporations, organizations, and village communities are also eligible to apply. However, private applicants must submit a consent form for sale from at least 80% of the landowners of the proposed site to prevent infringement of others' property rights. If the proposed site is state- or publicly-owned land, the submission of a consent form may be omitted.
The requirement for prior consent from local residents has been removed. In the third call, prior consent from at least 50% of nearby residents was required. In addition, to ensure smooth project implementation, the site selection procedure has been clarified to require the consent of the head of the local government with jurisdiction over the candidate site after the end of the fourth call and before the official designation and notification of the site.
The ancillary facilities required for the landfill will be determined through post-selection consultations. Until the third call, the types and scale of ancillary facilities were specified in advance as mandatory requirements. From this call onward, the details will be decided in consultation with the head of the relevant local government after the call, taking into account the conditions of the proposed area.
Meanwhile, the standard amount for special support funds provided to the selected site is set at 300 billion won. The final amount will be determined through consultation with the local government head, depending on the type and scale of ancillary facilities. If the site is large and includes various ancillary facilities such as pre-treatment or energy conversion facilities, the special support fund will be significantly increased.
In accordance with the "Act on the Promotion of Installation of Waste Treatment Facilities and Support for Surrounding Areas," the government also plans to provide up to 130 billion won in resident benefit facilities separately and to offer annual resident support funds of up to 10 billion won.
In addition, local governments that propose landfill candidates will receive joint support measures from relevant ministries to address long-standing local development projects.
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