The transportation committee of the South Jeolla-Gwangju Integrated Special City Council urged Wednesday that the relocation of the Mareuk-dong ammunition depot must not be delayed indefinitely because of plans to build a semiconductor cluster on the Gwangju military airfield site.
The area around the Mareuk-dong ammunition depot has been designated a military facility protection zone since 1975, restricting residents' property rights for more than half a century.
South Korea's Ministry of National Defense approved the depot's relocation in 2005, and 269.9 billion won ($201 million) of the total project cost of 326.2 billion won has already been spent.
However, the planned relocation site now falls within the area earmarked for a semiconductor fabrication facility, making a review of the relocation plan necessary.
The committee issued a statement Wednesday saying the semiconductor cluster and the ammunition depot relocation "are not an either-or choice," and called on the government and the Defense Ministry to present a concrete relocation plan and timeline.
The committee also urged that "a new national project must not demand yet another sacrifice from residents who have already sacrificed for more than 50 years," calling for military facility protection zone restrictions to be eased even before the depot is relocated, and for a resident support package linking the zone's eventual lifting to the expansion of surrounding infrastructure such as roads.
sij@heraldcorp.com
