By Kim Bo-eun
Residents are in dispute with local governments over who should manage a golf course built on a large landfill in western Incheon.
The residents have blocked some districts in Seoul from using the landfill, managed by the Sudokwon Landfill Site Management Corp., to show their discontent. The districts say they are being victimized amid the row over the golf course.
According to Seoul City and the districts, a group of residents near the landfill have blocked the corporation from taking trash from the districts for over a month.
The residents have voiced discontent with the change in the government’s plan on managing a golf course built on the landfill. The Ministry of Environment had initially proposed that a government-affiliated company run the golf course, but recently has decided to hand over management to the private sector.
Residents are saying private entities will only seek profits and will not serve the public interest. The group said it will allow the waste from the district on condition that the privatization plan be scrapped.
The landfill has been disposing of 2,204 tons, or 22 percent of the 10,020 tons of waste discharged from the capital.
Eunpyeong-gu of northwestern Seoul and Geumcheon-gu, Gwanak-gu of southern Seoul, which have had most of their waste taken to the landfill, are now facing a crisis.
The three districts are currently having their waste incinerated at a private plant, but their budgets are running out, as the cost there is six times per ton of that at the landfill.
“We have been spending reserve funds but it will soon run out too, so we might have to pile the waste at a nearby vacant lot near Eunpyeong New Town,” said an official at the district’s office. “Residents are filing complaints about the stench coming from the trash that hasn’t been collected.”
An official at Geumcheon district office said the office has requested residents to recycle their waste and try to minimize it as it cannot go to the landfill, but this would not solve the issue.
The corporation is to have a committee meeting on Thursday and discuss future measures, but it remains uncertain whether they will be able to satisfy the residents.
“The issue of who should manage the golf course is what the Ministry of Environment, the landfill management corporation as well as the residents should resolve, but nothing is getting done,” said a Seoul city official.
“We have no choice but to urge for the concerned parties to promptly resolve the issue.”