Birth of a Business Hub

by AUDREY PENNINGTON editor bounce@conway.com

The Incheon Free Economic Zone development in South Korea plans to deliver some superlatives to the market as the multimodal business hub takes shape. "Largest" is among them.

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he race to develop the No. 1 business hub of Northeast Asia has an ambitious new contender in Korea's Incheon Free Economic Zone (IFEZ). The development offers foreign- invested companies optimal business and living conditions in a seaside location with easy access to the strategically important Chinese and Japanese markets.
   Officials are seeking to capitalize on the competitive advantages of metropolitan Incheon and the financial benefits of a free economic zone. So they are stepping up work on what will be the world's largest mixed- use development; the primary international business area, Songdo, is on a man- made island 30 miles (48 km.) southwest of Seoul, South Korea, and linked by bridge to nearby Incheon International Airport. IFEZ also has areas for an air and sea logistics hub and a leisure/tourism and finance hub (see sidebar "What is IFEZ?").
   The vision for IFEZ, explains Commissioner Lee Hwan- Kyun, is "to become the center of international business, IT, biotechnology, logistics and tourism in the region." Lee says that as Northeast Asia "grows into one of the world's three leading trade areas, it shares more than 20 percent of the world's GDP, and as a result, competition among the nations in the region has intensified."
   Lee says IFEZ is backing a built- from- the- ground- up approach in order to nail all the details in what is dubbed "a mixed- use project on steroids." In Songdo alone, IFEZ is installing US$15 billion of infrastructure to create a new "u- city," with ubiquitous connections to computer networks anytime and anywhere, cutting- edge transit systems to minimize congestion and pollution and family- friendly amenities. For example, 36 percent of the area has been allocated as green space for parks and leisure facilities.
   Billions more are being committed to develop an international business city in Songdo, on 15,000 acres (6,075 hectares) of reclaimed land with access to the airport via a $1.6- billion, 7.4- mile (12- km.) bridge now under construction. Within Songdo, New Songdo City is a $25 billion joint venture of U.S.- based Gale International and a subsidiary of Korean steelmaker POSCO. Roughly $2 billion in construction is slated for each year for a convention center, trade tower, office buildings and a golf course.