By Na Jeong-ju
Staff Reporter
The administration plans to tranform the reclaimed land of Saemangeum on the country's southwestern coast into a city boasting state-of-the-art buildings and tourism facilities, the Office of the Prime Minister said Thursday.
Prime Minister Han Seung-soo held a meeting with officials monitoring the Saemangeum development project and approved a comprehensive plan to turn the tidal flats into an industrial city.
"The city to be built on the reclaimed area will be like Venice in Italy or Amsterdam in the Netherlands," said Kwon Tae-shin, chief of the prime minister's office. "The government is currently working closely with designers to decide how to shape the city. The final design concept will be announced late this year."
The Saemangeum area and the adjacent port city of Gunsan will jointly house an international business complex by 2020, devoted to boosting the automobile, shipbuilding and machinery industries, and tourism.
The country designated the Saemangeum and Gunsan area as its sixth and final free economic zone in May 2005, pronouncing its design would make full and strategic use of the Saemangeum area.
Under the plan, the industrial area will account for more than half of the total space of the free economic zone, with another 33 percent to house research centers, as well as homes and schools for domestic and international workers of tenant businesses.