[Uijeongbu = E-Daily Reporter Jung Jae-Hoon ] “We are not making unreasonable demands. We are simply asking the government to honor its promise of ‘transportation first, then settlement’ when it announced the plans for the third-phase new towns, including Wangsuk.” (Kim Jin-soo, Steering Committee Member of the Han River Mirya Joint Promotion Group)
Commissioner Kim, who served as chairman of the Emergency Task Force for the Early Opening of Line 9 until last year, pointed out in a phone interview with E-Daily on the 5th, “They announced a plan to open Line 9 by 2031 as part of the regional transportation strategy for the Wangsuk Phase 3 New Town,” adding, “But they haven’t even selected a construction contractor yet.” He continued, “It’s as clear as day that the opening will be delayed until 2032–2033,” and lamented, “If the railway transportation plan is delayed and roads become congested, the residents of the Phase 3 New City and the citizens of the Seoul Metropolitan Area will inevitably bear the full brunt of the consequences.”
These concerns stem from the fact that the feasibility of the government’s promise—“transportation first, then move-in”—made at the time of the Third-Phase New Towns announcement is becoming increasingly unlikely.
According to the Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH) and others, the government announced the “Third-Phase New Towns” plan—which involves supplying nearly 190,000 housing units in three phases from September 2018 through May 2019—as part of its housing market stabilization measures.
At the time of the initial announcement, the government promised a “transportation first, move-in later” approach—committing to completing transportation infrastructure, including rail and road systems, before residents moved in—to avoid repeating the transportation inconveniences experienced by residents of the Second-Phase New Towns.
Accordingly, the government unveiled railway transportation measures—including the extension of Line 9 connecting Seoul’s Gangnam area to Namyangju in Gyeonggi Province, the Greater Seoul Area Express Railway (GTX) linking the Third-Phase New Cities to key hubs in the metropolitan area, and the Daejang-Hongdae Line and Songpa-Hanam Line—as well as road transportation measures such as the construction of the new Suseok Bridge spanning the Han River to connect Namyangju and Hanam.
However, recent reports that 77 of the 89 projects included in the metropolitan transportation plan for the third-phase new towns are unlikely to be completed before residents move in have heightened anxiety among prospective residents like Chairman Kim, who had trusted the government’s promises.
In Incheon Gyeyang, where residents are set to move in starting late this year, the extension of the Beolmal-ro road has been pushed back to 2031, and there is no clear timeline for the completion of the new BRT line. In Goyang Changneung, where residents are scheduled to move in by the end of next year, the proposed construction of the new GTX A Changneung Station and the Goyang Eunpyeong Line have also been delayed. The Songpa-Hanam Line, intended to improve transportation in the Hanam Gyosan District, is also expected to be postponed from 2028 to 2032.
With the metropolitan transportation plan—promised to be completed before residents move in to ensure smooth inter-regional travel for residents of the Third-Phase New Towns—now delayed by two to five years or more, the government’s bold ambition of “transportation first, move-in later” is in danger of becoming nothing more than an empty slogan.
As of the 2nd, a post on the Gyeonggi Provincial Government’s petition board—calling for the prompt commencement of construction on Line 9 to honor the “transportation first, move-in later” promise for the third-phase new towns—has met the threshold (10,000 signatures) requiring a direct response from the Governor of Gyeonggi Province.
Despite this situation, the government anticipates that it will be able to complete the entire metropolitan transportation plan once the occupancy rate in the third-phase new towns reaches around 80 percent.
An official from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport stated, “To alleviate inconveniences during the initial occupancy phase when major metropolitan transportation plans are not yet complete, we plan to minimize disruptions by utilizing services such as metropolitan buses, which can be deployed relatively quickly,” adding, “We will spare no effort—including amending relevant laws—to ensure the timely completion of the metropolitan transportation plan.”
