Yongsan Considers "Soil Purification First" Strategy: Where Will Apartments Rise on Park Land?

To accelerate housing supply in the metropolitan area, the government is reviewing a plan to start soil purification work on the Yongsan Park site first.

The idea is to maximize the speed of the project by carrying out the time-consuming purification process before finalizing detailed housing development plans.

Specific measures for additional housing supply were discussed during a real estate policy meeting presided over by President Lee Jae-myung on the 3rd.

During the meeting, a so-called "purification first, negotiation later" plan was proposed to promptly utilize the Yongsan Park site.

Since the Yongsan Park area was previously used as a U.S. military base, supplying housing requires investigating soil contamination in each plot and purifying any contaminated soil.

The government is reviewing a plan to first move contaminated soil to a separate facility outside the site for purification, and then conduct detailed negotiations on how to utilize the park site for housing supply.

Issues requiring consultation with the U.S. military are reportedly to be led by the National Security Office.

Development of the Taereung Golf Course in Nowon-gu, Seoul, which was included in the housing supply measures announced last January, is also expected to gain momentum.

The government plans to supply 6,800 households here, and instead of the Hanam Seongnam Golf Course previously discussed as an alternative site for Taereung, a new negotiation plan involving another golf course desired by the Ministry of National Defense is being discussed.

The Gwacheon site of the Armed Forces Counterintelligence Command, which completed its unit disbandment on the 3rd, will also be used for housing supply as scheduled.

Of the total 280,000 square meters, about 60,000 square meters will be excluded from the housing site, and procedures to incorporate it into the greenbelt are reportedly underway together.

The Gwacheon Seoul Racecourse Park, developed along with the Counterintelligence Command site, is also entering the development procedure by pursuing a restricted competition.

However, as the Korea Racing Authority has proposed 2.4 trillion won in relocation costs and demanded tax reductions, the government plans to review measures to advance the construction and relocation schedules together.

In addition, it was reported that expanding financial support to secure the maximum supply volume while advancing the actual supply timing, and applying temporary special exceptions in the fiscal, tax, and licensing sectors were also brought to the table during the meeting.

President Lee is scheduled to preside over a second closed-door meeting today to review real estate policies.

Today's meeting is expected to intensively inspect the implementation status and speed of the supply plans.

Reported by Kim Minjeong | Video by Lee Yu-jin | Graphics by Yang Hye-min | Produced by SBS Digital News
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.