By Na Jeong-ju
Staff Reporter

The Office of the Prime Minister has almost finished drawing up its master plan to transform Sejong City in South Chungcheong Province into a science business belt and will soon report to President Lee Myung-bak for his approval, sources said Monday.

The name of Sejong City may be changed as it represents an administrative town.

The office will make public the alternative development plans in a couple of weeks, the sources said.

The move came after President Lee said during a nationally-televised town hall meeting Friday that he would scrap the administrative town project and seek better development plans for the sake of the country's future.

Lee met with members of the decision-making Supreme Council of the governing Grand National Party (GNP) at Cheong Wa Dae Monday to discuss ways to muster support for the revision plan and the $19 billion project to refurbish the country's four major rivers.

The President told the lawmakers that it was ``heartbreaking'' to see society divided over the government's projects.

He called for unity in the governing camp to persuade political opponents and create a social consensus on the projects, said a Cheong Wa Dae spokesman.

Lee plans to visit the Gyeongsang and Jeolla provinces this week to meet with opinion leaders there.
He will appeal for their support for the disputed projects and unveil other programs aimed at promoting more balanced regional development, the spokesman said.

According to researchers working on the alternative plan for Sejong City, the administration will invest 3.54 trillion won by 2015 to build a science business complex on the site.

The business belt will house global science technology firms, Korean conglomerates, universities and academic institutes. President Lee has expressed his wish to replace Sejong with a multi-functional industrial city resembling Ulsan, Changwon or Gumi.

Opposition parties as well as lawmakers affiliated with former GNP Chairwoman Rep. Park Geun-hye have strongly protested the revision, saying it was absurd for the government to change the administrative town project, which was approved by the National Assembly in 2005.

Political parties are expected to be locked in heated debate in the coming weeks with the administration set to submit a bill to revise the project this or next month.

jj@koreatimes.co.kr