Gimhae airport expansion selected as the best option

French airport engineering company ADPi and the Land, Infrastructure and Transport Ministry reached a conclusion on Tuesday that the best option for a new airport is to expand existing Gimhae Airport. ADPi, the consultancy that conducted a feasibility study on construction of a new airport in the Gyeongsang region, said, “We started completely from ‘zero’ rather than comparing two options (Miryang and Gadeok Island),” adding, “We conducted a comprehensive review on aviation safety, economy, accessibility and environment of 35 candidate sites in the Gyeongsang region including Gadeok Island and Miryang to come up with the expansion of Gimhae Airport as our conclusion.” As a result, a plan to construct the new airport for the Gyeongsang region in Gadeok Island or Miryang has been scrapped, but considering that the "remodeling of Gimhae Airport" has been clearly suggested as an alternative, the initiative cannot be considered outright revocation of the plan.

In his op-ed to The Dong-A Ilbo dated June 17, Chun Young-woo, chairman of the Korean Peninsula Future Forum, claimed that relocating the airbase in Gimhae to less crowded Yeosu Airport and expanding Gimhae Airport is far more reasonable, but common sense and logic were neglected and excluded. His argument has proven to be accurate through the outcome of consulting conducted by ADPi. Chun, who was born and graduated a university in Busan, is believed to have expertise that enables him to make in-depth analysis of the issue, since he served as presidential secretary for foreign affairs and national security during the Lee Myung-bak administration.

In consulting on study of a plan to expand the capacity of runaway at Gimhae Airport, which was conducted by Korea Airport Corporation in 2013, Gimhae Airport was suggested as an effective alternative, but this idea was disregarded by people promoting a new airport, who claimed, “It is a government strategy to disregard options as way to scrap the new airport project altogether.” In the 2011 eval‎uation of candidate sites for a new airport, lack of accessibility for Gadeok, and safety and environmental problems for Miryang were cited as causes for outright scrapping of the project. It is regrettable that the Gyeongsang region has been divided into two over the construction of a new airport for more than 10 years, while the immediate and most reasonable alternative has been dumped, aggravating regional conflict and causing waste of national energy.

Mayors and governors of Busan, Daegu and Ulsan metropolitan cities and the Gyeongsang provinces, politicians and businesspeople engaged in excessive competition over the site of a new airport. Some watchers said that the latest decision is the result of political consideration due to concern over divide of the Gyeongsang region ahead of next year’s presidential election. Some metropolitan and provincial governments may feel disappointed at the decision, but they should be accepting the decision based on grand vision that they should put priority on the future and development of the nation rather than interests of a local region, and take the lead to persuade residents.

It is time for the political circle to end the practice of exploiting state projects as part of their populist measures to garner votes during elections. As evidenced by dispute over the construction of the administrative capital of Sejong, innovation cities, general high-tech medicine complexes, and the International Science Belt, we have experienced enough of aftereffects and backlash resulting from such practice. The same holds true with the fact that certain airports in provincial regions have turned into sites for drying red pepper due to lack of passengers and planes, and dispute over a new airport for the Gyeongsang region that has lingered for 10 years. Candidates for next year’s presidential election should declare that they will not exploit state projects to win the election.

이진녕 jinnyong@donga.com