Invest KOREA

According to Yonhap News,

The construction for Universal Studio Korea Resort (USKR), a global theme park to be built at Hwaseong City in Gyeonggi Province, will begin after the real estate contract is completed within September.

The central and local governments have decided to inject a total of 100 billion KRW into building infrastructures for the USKR project, which is expected to accelerate the construction project.

Economy Investment Team at Gyeonggi Province said on Thursday that it will establish Asia's largest theme park of USKR on the 4.2 million square meter-site in the eastern area of Songsan Green City, Sinoi-dong, Hwaseong City.

The project is led by USKR Project Financing Vehicle (PFV) comprised of nine partners, including Lotte Asset Development, POSCO E&C and Korea Investment Securities.

The USKR PFV is planning to complete signing the real estate contract for land supply with Korea Water Resources Corporation, the land owner, by September.

Both sides have agreed to set the whole land price at 504 billion KRW. According to the contract, 150 billion KRW of down payment will be paid in a lump sum while the rest 354 billion KRW will be paid in installments over 10 years with the interest rate of 5.5%.

The USKR PFV plans to start the construction at the end of this year, after completing the real estate contract and then getting permission and approval for establishing tourism complex, and plans to open the theme park in the early 2016.

Gyeonggi Province asked the central government to support 50 billion KRW for building infrastructures, such as roads and water supply and sewage system.

The province plans to invest a total of 100 billion KRW in building infrastructures. According to the plan, the central and local governments will be responsible for 50 billion, respectively, for the investment.

Gyeonggi's request for national budgets undergoes evaluation for central government's investment and financing at the Ministry of Public Administration and Security, after going through the preliminary feasibility test conducted by the Ministry of Strategy and Finance.

An official at Gyeonggi's Economy and Investment Team said, "Some expanses necessary for building infrastructures can be supported by central and local governments," adding that "We believe that the USKR project will be accelerated, because the project will certainly pass through central government's investment and financing evaluation."

The total operation cost for the USKR project is presumed to amount to 3 trillion KRW, including 450 billion KRW necessary for the establishment of infrastructures.

Gyeonggi expects the project to boost its regional economy by creating 11,000 jobs and attracting 15 million tourists from home and abroad.

Source: Yonhap News (Feb. 9, 2012)

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** This is the translation of a Korean article.