The government has decided on four areas for its "company town" project; Muan, Chungju, Wonju, and Muju. "Company towns" involve fundamentally different methods of development compared to the industrial complexes of the past, in that private companies are in charge of everything from the land to development and then they get to reap the profits that result. The idea is to get investment in the provinces even if it means giving someone special privileges.
One understands the goal, but there are more than a few parts of the project that are lacking. To begin with you do not see anything about the plans that are consistent with the plan's intentions. There is something about the "wellbeing industry," a bioengineering center, and a high-tech medical complex, but you doubt these areas will grow industrial competitiveness and produce the kind of accumulated results you see in Japan's Toyota City or America's Silicon Valley. Taean and Haenam-Yeongam will be reviewed in August as potential sites as well. Together with Muju those areas are mostly involved in tourism, so people are already joking about how "company towns" in those places will really be about building more golf courses.
Meanwhile the procedures for gaining profit are inadequate. Initially the government considered a plan that would involve claiming all the profit and spending it on local infrastructure, but that changed when the business community started demanding some, and now business will receive 25 to 85 percent. Furthermore the government is not really getting that profit since the benefits of investing in local infrastructure will also go to the "company towns" themselves. If the profit is underestimated that means even greater benefits for businesses.
The "company town" project might foster speculative real estate investment because it comes at a time when speculative funds on the market have nowhere else to invest. Greed tends to accompany such negative side effects. It would be best to work hard at the "administrative city," "innovation city," and the moving of government agencies, and then pursue the "company town" project after the problems with it have been fixed.
The Hankyoreh, 11 July 2005.
[Translations by Seoul Selection (PMS)]
Long Way To Go on \'Company Towns\' |
