"It's a five-minute drive from the Gwangju military airfield site where the Honam semiconductor industrial complex will be built. Development of the Sanjeong district, which has fallen behind its original schedule, is urgently needed."
Residents of the Sanjeong public housing district in Gwangsan-gu, South Jeolla-Gwangju Special Metropolitan City, have urged the swift development of a residential complex to support the planned Honam region semiconductor national industrial complex.
A residents' group promoting development of the Gwangju Sanjeong district public housing site held a press conference Monday at the Gwangju office of the South Jeolla-Gwangju Special Metropolitan City Council, calling for the prompt advancement of the Sanjeong district public housing project and the immediate launch of compensation procedures.
The Sanjeong district project had originally targeted completion by 2029.
However, it has been delayed for years due to disagreements between the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and the former Gwangju city government over the scale of housing supply and the method of development.
Residents said they had faced severe restrictions on property rights — including land use, sales and mortgage lending — while the area remained designated a land transaction permit zone, and added that conditions for developing the Sanjeong district had changed with the planned establishment of the Honam semiconductor cluster.
The Sanjeong district lies within 5 kilometers of the Gwangju military airfield, the planned site of the semiconductor cluster — the main reason it has drawn attention as a key residential support area.
The residents' group said semiconductor factories are set to begin operation in 2030, and questioned why residents would have to wait until 2034 for a supporting residential city to be ready. It called on the integrated city government, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and the Korea Land and Housing Corporation to swiftly conclude talks on the district plan and housing supply, and to begin surveys of obstacles and compensation procedures without delay.
The group also urged authorities to publicly disclose a concrete project timeline covering compensation, ground-breaking and move-in.
Park Pil-soon, a South Jeolla-Gwangju Special Metropolitan City Assembly member representing the district, said the project had been delayed by administrative consultations and policy decisions, and argued that the lost time must be made up to match the new circumstances created by the semiconductor national industrial complex. "Just as the semiconductor complex is being pushed forward at speed, the Sanjeong district must also accelerate its district plan consultations and compensation procedures," Park said.
sij@heraldcorp.com
