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| Seen above is the candidate site for Jeju Island's second airport in Seongsan. Korea Times file |
By Jung Da-min
The government has begun a feasibility study of Jeju Island's second airport plan, according to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.
The Ajou University Industry-Academic Cooperation Foundation will conduct the study.
If all works out after a three-month review of the vitality of the plan, a consortium led by POSCO Engineering & Construction (E&C) will build the second airport. POSCO's consortium will draw up a master plan for the airport.
The contracts for the feasibility study and the construction were finalized on June 29.
This is the second time the ministry has moved to conduct the study for the airport site.
In November 2015, the ministry announced it would build the island's second airport on 4.95 million square meters of land in Seongsan.
This followed a feasibility study from 2014 to 2015. Back then, residents of a village in Onpyeong-ri, located in the center of the second airport's candidate site, opposed the plan, arguing the government ignored their opinion.
So in December 2017, the government ordered another study, plus a plan to devise the airport's master plan at the same time. A consortium led by Yooshin Engineering was selected to conduct the study and devise the airport's master plan.
The village residents, however, stood against Yooshin Engineering participating in the project.
They opposed it because of Yooshin's participation in 2014. They also argued it was not fair for Yooshin to conduct the feasibility study and draw up the master plan at the same time.
The Yooshin consortium withdrew in early May. POSCO E&C was selected as the second airport's potential builder.
Jeju Governor Won Hee-ryong, who was re-elected last month, said he will see to it that the process of the feasibility study will be transparent.
"There is an economic necessity for the second airport. But above all, the safety of our residents and tourists is of utmost importance," Won said in a recent interview with a local daily.
"We will set up a committee with experts recommended by the government and local residents to review this issue and make the feasibility study process and results transparent so we can resolve any problems raised by our residents."
Won added if the second airport is established, the number of tourists visiting Jeju would reach 20 million, and the island will move to set up additional infrastructure to further help accommodate local residents.
The second airport project includes building a 3,200-meter runway with a budget of 4.87 trillion won ($43.65 billion) to handle over 25 million visitors to the island a year.
Jeju needs to have planes take off and land 68 times an hour on average to meet this projected demand. Currently, planes depart from and arrive at Jeju International Airport 35 times an hour.
After the results of the feasibility study come out, the master plan will be implemented over nine month.
Besides the second airport plan, Korea Airports Corp. is also pursuing an infrastructure expansion plan for Jeju International Airport.
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