Three cities and provinces signed a business agreement to request business feasibility services within this month.

Incheon Airport, Ganghwa, Gimpo, Paju, Hwacheon to Sokcho 356.5km section

The construction of the East-West Peace Road, which crosses the east-west of the Korean Peninsula from Ganghwa, Incheon to Sokcho, Gangwon Province via northern Gyeonggi Province, will be carried out in earnest.

According to the Incheon Metropolitan Government on the 21st, Incheon City, Gyeonggi Province and Gangwon Province will jointly implement services to secure the feasibility of the East-West Peace Road construction project and three cities and provinces will sign business agreements this month.

The three cities and provinces will establish a wide-area transportation system connecting the metropolitan area, Gangwon-dong, and West to secure a logistics and tourism base and promote balanced development of border areas.

Starting with Incheon International Airport, East-West Peace Road is Incheon International Airport~ Ongjin~It will be constructed in the 356.5km section from Ganghwa to Gimpo to Paju to Pocheon to Sokcho.

The entire section is 356.5 kilometers long, but if existing roads (273.7 kilometers) are used and some roads (28.3 kilometers) are linearly improved, only 54.5 kilometers will be newly opened. Total project costs are also possible with 1.3 trillion won.

In particular, Incheon should be in charge of Incheon International Airport~ Ongjin~It is 66.7 kilometers from Ganghwa to Gimpo, but 28.8 kilometers from Yeongjong to Ongjin (Shindo) can be used on the West Sea's inter-Korean peace road and Ganghwa coastal circulation road, and 18.7 kilometers will be newly opened if 19.2 kilometers are linearly improved. The project costs 505.7 billion won.

The three cities and provinces jointly proposed business plans to the Ministry of Public Administration and Security in April, held a new business discovery meeting with the Ministry of the Interior and Security in May, and held working-level talks on securing feasibility services in June.

Three cities and provinces have decided to sign a business agreement to request the Korea Transportation Research Institute to provide business feasibility services within this month and are currently in talks.

When the results of the service are released, the Incheon Metropolitan Government plans to propose that it can be reflected in the change of the comprehensive plan for development of the border area that will be established at the end of next year.

Meanwhile, the project was first implemented as a private sector project in 2011 as it was reflected in the "third basic plan for road maintenance," but it was not implemented properly due to low economic feasibility. Then in 2019, the second tool of Ganghwa Coastal Circulation Road, the time of East-West Peace Road, was opened nine years after it was reflected in the "Comprehensive Plan for Development of the Border Area" in 2011.

A city official said, "It is true that we are pushing for the project, but we cannot tell you the details of the project jointly carried out by the three cities, provinces and the Ministry of Public Administration and Security said a city official.

Han Gapsu

Source : https://www.fnnews.com/news/202107211517339470