Yongin city announced Tuesday that it has completed Yongin Eco Town, an integrated public environmental facility built below ground at Yongin Respia in Pogok-eup, and will begin full operation in July.
The completion comes roughly a decade after the city launched a feasibility study for the eco town development project in 2016, marking a long-awaited milestone in establishing the city's urban development infrastructure.
Yongin Eco Town handles both sewage and waste treatment within a single facility, which the city says will reduce costs previously incurred through private outsourcing of food waste processing.
The facility also maximizes use of waste resources: gas generated by an organic waste biogas plant will supply hydrogen production for the city's "mini hydrogen city" project — selected through a Gyeonggi Province competition in 2023 — and thermal energy from a sludge recycling facility within the eco town will be reused on-site.
Mayor Lee Sang-il said the project took about 10 years to complete and apologized to residents who had long endured odor problems. "We will operate the sewage treatment facilities and other infrastructure in an eco-friendly manner, and run the resident-friendly amenities efficiently so that all residents can benefit," he said.
Lee added that the completion of Yongin Eco Town had significantly expanded sewage treatment capacity. He said the city would accelerate urban development projects — including apartment complexes and industrial parks in the Cheoin-gu area — to lay the groundwork for balanced development across Yongin.
The mayor visited the Yongin Eco Town construction site in June 2023 to inspect progress and urged officials to ensure the work proceeded without delay.
Earlier, in December 2022, Lee met with central government and National Assembly officials in succession to make the case for the project and requested that the initial government budget of 3 billion won ($1.95 million) be doubled. The government ultimately allocated 6 billion won for the eco town project in its 2023 budget — twice the original figure.
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