By Lee Kyung-min
Struggling with snowballing debt, the Incheon Metropolitan Government (IMG) is considering selling at least four of the 17 venues built for the recent Asian Games to private investors.
In a recent policy report to the city council, the IMG said selling some venues is a viable option to address the debt.
“We are open to talks with any investor interested in buying the stadiums,” the IMG said. “We think four stadiums ― Namdong, Gyeyang, Seonhak, and the main Incheon stadium ― can be sold.”
Auctioning off the stadiums is part of the city government’s effort to counter growing financial difficulty in the wake of the Asian Games, held from Sept. 19 to Oct. 14.
IMG spent 1.7 trillion won on building the venues, and apart from a 500 billion-won ($448 million) subsidy from the central government, it funded the projects by issuing municipal bonds.
The repayment of the principal and interest alone is a huge burden, as well as huge maintenance costs estimated at 10 billion won annually.
Incheon has not secured a budget for this, nor has it any prospect to gain profits by operating the stadiums for itself in the future.
Pressed with snowballing debt, Namdong, one of the city districts, gave its operating rights to Namdong Stadium to the city.
In an attempt to ease the financial burden, Incheon had been planning to use some stadiums as multi-purpose complexes receiving rent from the facility by housing movie theaters, shopping malls and family restaurants.
Unlike October, this time the city came up with a specific outline to select a business operator.
“We will hold public bidding next month, and depending on the result, complexes will open as early as February next year,” the city official said.
Apart from the financial difficulty, the city is also embroiled in a number of lawsuits with construction companies over compensation claims for the extra cost incurred regarding “venue-use changes.”