The South Jeolla Province-Gwangju Integrated Special City will hold a 60-day open call — from Friday through Oct. 12 — for candidate sites for a regional waste recovery facility serving the Gwangju area.
The fourth round of applications was triggered after the top candidate selected in the third round was disqualified for failing to meet eligibility requirements.
Before finalizing the site selection plan, the integrated city held a site selection committee review on Thursday and a city-district meeting on Friday, ultimately deciding to proceed through an open public application process. The committee voted that the open-call approach was appropriate to minimize community conflict and ensure stable project progress, while the subsequent city-district meeting addressed the overall project direction and division of responsibilities.
The planned facility will have a daily municipal waste processing capacity of 650 tons and will serve all five autonomous districts in the Gwangju area.
To apply, a site must obtain the consent of at least 50 percent of registered household heads actually residing within 300 meters of the proposed site boundary. If the applicant and the landowner are different parties, the submission must also include sale consent covering at least 60 percent of the applied area and at least 60 percent of the landowners.
The five Gwangju autonomous districts will review submitted sites for location conditions, regulatory compliance and application requirements before forwarding them to the integrated city. The site selection committee will then draw up an investigation plan and determine the final candidate site based on feasibility study results from a specialized agency.
The district selected as the final site will receive a range of benefits, including legal support — such as the installation of resident convenience facilities and the creation of a resident support fund under the Act on the Promotion of Installation of Waste Treatment Facilities and Support for Neighboring Areas — as well as a special grant of 50 billion won ($35.3 million).
"With the ban on direct landfilling of municipal waste taking effect in 2030, a regional waste recovery facility covering all five autonomous districts in Gwangju is absolutely necessary," said Jeong Mi-gyeong, head of the resource circulation division. "We ask for broad interest and cooperation in the candidate site application process for the future of the region."
sij@heraldcorp.com
