Last April, President Lee Myung-bak withdrew a construction plan for a new airport in the southeastern region, apologizing for making a ``wrong campaign pledge.” The cancellation came after a feasibility study gave two sites competing for the project in South and North Gyeongsang provinces dismal scores of 40 out of 100.
Sixteen months later, none other than the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs is pushing to revive the project, saying it will resume the feasibility study next year and is requesting 1 billion won from the budget.
The ministry cites recent surging demand in both Jeju and Gimhae airports, located on Jeju Island and in the vicinity of Busan, respectively. But experts say the expansion of the existing facilities, including runways, will be sufficient to meet demand for the next several years.
Actually, most of the new demands are political. All major presidential hopefuls from both the ruling and opposition camps are stressing the need for new airports on the tourism-dependent island province as well as nearby the nation’s second largest city. And the bureaucrats want to curry favor with the ``future power.”
Koreans have watched, all too frequently, huge amounts of taxpayer’s money ending up in the pockets of large builders, while the environment is destroyed, and little contribution is made to regional economies and few jobs are created ― mostly because they were duped by the populist promises of political candidates. They should not stand for this to be repeated this time around. They don’t have to look much beyond the 22 trillion-won four-river refurbishment projects, which has done little to alleviate drought conditions or improve water quality.
Voters should ditch candidates who adhere to the 20th-century development formula characterized by collusion between politicians and builders, and back those who promise to revive the rural economy and support the urban self-employed while developing knowledge-based smaller firms to create a maximum number of jobs for the young unemployed.
Election or not, the nation will have to replenish key infrastructure, but these airports are not needed, at least not now. The Ministry of Planning and Finance should reject the budget request.