New urban area development plan to be reviewed

As the government and ruling party decided to conduct an overall review of the plan to establish new towns in metropolitan areas such as Pankyo, residents in the concerned areas are strongly opposing the venture. The government and ruling party held a conference at the Millennium Democratic Party headquarters in Yoido Wednesday and decided to put the project on hold before making a final decision on the issue next month.

In the conference, ruling party lawmakers harshly criticized the government for not holding enough consultations with the party before unveiling the plan aimed at relieving overcrowding in metropolitan areas and called for the cancellation of the project. Lee Hae-Chan, chairman of the policy-making committee, demanded that the government carefully consider the problem of overcrowding and set up appropriate measures.

After the meeting, Kim Yoon-Ki, Minister of Construction and Transportation, said that the participants decided to review the project and hold another conference to discuss measures. But, interestingly, at the meeting, most lawmakers did not raise objections to the development projects in Chonan and Asan, which will cover 8.9 million pyong.