DEVELOPMENT OF U.S. ARMY BASE CAMP

[Anchor Lead]

A development project for U.S. army base Camp Howze in Paju and surrounding areas is expected to get underway again. The city of Paju plans to choose a new developer for the once derailed project. But there are concerns that a new development plan may cause great losses for those who already invested in the original project.

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Camp Howze, Paju. The U.S. army base closed in May 2007. It's been over 12 years since it was returned to Korea, but it still stands unchanged. The initial plan was to turn the site into a park and the surrounding areas into a residential area. But the plan wasn't carried out at all. It's been put on hold due to drawn-out licensing and administrative procedures and a legal dispute between the city of Paju and the former project operator. The lawsuit ended in favor of Paju. The city government put up an ad for a new project operator on January 16th and plans to receive business proposals in May. Paju is hoping to select a new developer quickly since the project has been stalled for too long. But if the project proceeds as planned, there could be unintended side effects. About 700 people have already signed contracts and paid large sums of money to the old project operator. They were hoping to buy apartments or businesses in the newly developed area.

[Soundbite] KIM JI-HUN(COUNTERMEASURES COMMITTEE) : "We believe the city of Paju should come up with solutions and select an operator that can carry out the plans."

Committees seeking solutions to this problem are being established one after another. There was a project briefing set to be held at a civic center but due to concerns over the new coronavirus, the city is reviewing a plan to hold an online meeting instead.