Logistics center likely to open near Kaesong Industrial Complex by next year

Posted on : 2019-05-22 16:56 KST Modified on : 2019-05-22 16:56 KST
Center would resolve complex’s transportation issues
The Kaesong Industrial Complex
The Kaesong Industrial Complex

A comprehensive logistics center is likely to open by the end of next year near the inter-Korean border, within easy reach of the Kaesong Industrial Complex. The complex will serve as a logistics base for tenant companies at the complex.

On May 21, the Gyeonggi Kaesong Industrial Complex Business Cooperative announced that it would apply for a permit from Gyeonggi Province around June 20 to build a logistics center, which is supposed to solve transportation issues that have plagued the Kaesong Complex.

Following deliberations with military authorities and an environment impact assessment by the Ministry of Environment, the cooperative plans to initiate construction by early 2020 at the latest. Procuring the land for the logistics center will take about six months, causing the cooperative to expect that tenant companies’ facilities will go up around the end of 2020.

The 165,000m² logistics center, which will cost more than 80 billion won (US$67.04 million), will be located near the Seongdong expressway exit on Freedom Road (Jayu-ro) in Tanhyeon Township, Paju, Gyeonggi Province. The logistics center is designed to function as a logistics hub at which tenant companies at the Kaesong Complex can store the basic and subsidiary materials needed for production, as well as the finished products.

The logistics center will also include a shopping area to promote and display products from the Kaesong Complex, from North Korea, and from South Korean small and medium-sized enterprises, serving as a platform for supporting inter-Korean economic cooperation.

Tenant companies at the Kaesong Complex have been struggling since the complex was closed in February 2016. These companies came up with the plan of building the logistics center in recognition of their need to prepare for the eventual reopening of the complex.

Little progress was made on the plan because of poor inter-Korean relations until June 2018, when it passed an actual demand test administered by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport. While the organizers originally intended to begin construction in the first half of this year and wrap it up next year, they ran into a temporary roadblock: the need to deal with traffic around the Seongdong expressway exit.

“Now that we’ve come up with a way to resolve the traffic issue, by widening an access road at the Seongdong exit, we’re planning to apply for a permit next month. Since Gyeonggi Province and Paju are both active supporters of our plan, companies should be able to put up buildings inside the center by the end of next year,” said Lee Hui-geon, director of the cooperative.

By Park Kyung-man, North Gyeonggi Province

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