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Samsung Electronics Co. has given up a plan to build "Samsung City" south of Seoul in the face of opposition from government agencies wary of a favoritism dispute, company and government sources said.
Earlier this year, Samsung proposed building a 3.23-million-sq-m industrial city in Tangjeong, South Chungcheong Province, about 100 km south of Seoul.
In the proposal sent to the Ministry of Construction and Transportation, Samsung said Samsung City would house 1.39-million-sq-m liquid crystal display (LCD) manufacturing facilities and 1.85 million sq m of residential, commercial, and urban areas.
In response, however, the ministry and the provincial government turned down the Samsung City project, saying it could trigger a controversy over huge development profits in the favor of the conglomerate, which is South Korea's largest.
In a revised proposal recently sent to the provincial government, Samsung said it would only build LCD manufacturing facilities in Tangjeong and expand the complex's size to 2.15 million sq m.
Under the new plan, the LCD park would be designed to house LCD production plants, including a Samsung-Sony joint-venture LCD factory, dormitories and schools. Samsung intends to pour in 20 trillion won (approx. U.S. $16.98 billion) to build four seventh-generation (7G) LCD production lines in the complex.
The Samsung Tangjeong park, according to the proposal, would churn out LCD panels for televisions from early 2005, before being completed in 2009, with annual sales expected to mark 10 trillion won.
No official government response has been given to the new proposal. (Yonhap)
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