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The government’s recent decision to allow Lotte Group to build a 555-meter skyscraper near Seoul Airport, south of Seoul, is raising temperatures in the nearby city of Seongnam. It has been found that the Air Force instructed a company overseeing construction of an incineration facility in Seongnam to lower the height of the facility’s chimney to below the level of the neighboring apartment buildings because of safety concerns. The Lotte Group, on the other hand, was told that its skyscraper could be built in the same neighborhood, and that the airport’s runway angle would be adjusted so that construction of the tower could proceed.

The state-run Korea Land Corp. began construction of the waste incineration facility, which is located next to the gateway of the Seoul-Busan (Gyeongbu) Expressway, in January 2007 and the building is scheduled for completion in May.

But there are concerns about the effectiveness of the facility and the safety of area residents. In particular, the chimney of the waste incineration facility is being built to a height of 12 meters below what would be required to guarantee that it functions properly. The facility is within a flight safety zone around Seoul Airport designated by the Air Force, which mandates that buildings within the zone not exceed 103 meters above sea level. Since the land on which the waste incineration facility is being built is 45 meters above sea level, the height of the facility has to be reduced to 58 meters.

As a result, the chimney’s height will be lower than that of the neighboring high-rise apartments, which are not subject to the safety regulations. There are concerns that water vapor and smoke from the chimney could be spread to the residential area when the temperature or air pressure decreases. The city of Seongnam ordered the KLC to install special equipment to reduce the smoke, which will cost an additional 2.2 billion won (US$1.6 million), bringing the total cost of construction to 48 billion won (US$35.2 million).

A Seongnam city official said that the government and the military “are helping a conglomerate to build a skyscraper,” by allowing them to readjust the angle of a runway at nearby Seoul Airport, but “are trying to apply stricter guidelines to public facilities that are essential to people’s lives and their health, causing billions of won to be wasted in the process.”

“This shows how differently the government treats conglomerates and the general public,” the official said.

A Seoul Airport official countered, “The incineration facility’s chimney is clearly in the flight safety zone, and there can no exceptions to the enforcement of height restrictions. Also, discussions over the height issue were concluded in April 2007.”

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