Sokcho Mayor Lee Byung-sun inspects the construction site of a worker dormitory at the Daepo Agricultural-Industrial Complex.
Sokcho Mayor Lee Byung-sun inspects the construction site of a worker dormitory at the Daepo Agricultural-Industrial Complex.

Sokcho Mayor Lee Byung-sun visited the construction site of the worker dormitory project at the Daepo Agricultural-Industrial Complex on Wednesday to review construction progress and the schedule for future work.

The project involves renovating an old daycare center building and expanding it with an annex to create housing for workers at the industrial complex. With a total budget of 5.81 billion won ($4.33 million), the city will build a four-story dormitory above ground covering 1,446.67 square meters, with 30 rooms that can house 44 residents.

The existing building will contain 15 rooms accommodating 29 residents, including a unit for people with disabilities, while the new annex will hold 15 single rooms. Each room will have its own bathroom and shower along with furniture and appliances needed for daily life, such as beds, desks, refrigerators and air conditioners. Shared laundry and lounge areas will also be provided to improve residents' convenience.

Construction is currently 70 percent complete. Interior work on the rooms has finished except for glass installation and wallpaper and flooring work, while exterior finishing work is underway. The city plans to complete the interior work in September, finish the exterior work in October, and wrap up ancillary work — including landscaping and outdoor piping — along with furniture and supply installation by November.

The dormitory is set to be completed in November. Following that, the city will recruit and select residents from November through December, with move-in targeted for January next year.

Meanwhile, the city is also pursuing changes to the basic management plan for the Daepo Agricultural-Industrial Complex, aimed at improving both workers' living conditions and the business environment for resident companies. The plan would raise the building-to-land ratio from 70 percent to 80 percent and accommodate resident companies' demand to add new business types. The building-to-land ratio refers to the proportion of a site's area covered by buildings; raising it allows more floor space to be built on the same site.

Sokcho is moving forward with the approval process, aiming to have the revised management plan approved and officially announced in September. The city aims to boost site utilization for resident companies and meet the growing demand for additional business types.

Currently, about 1,500 workers are employed at 120 companies across the Daepo No. 1 through No. 3 Agricultural-Industrial Complexes. The city plans to pursue the dormitory project and the management plan revision together, creating conditions where workers can live securely and companies can grow smoothly.

"For the uninterrupted development of the Daepo Agricultural-Industrial Complex, it is important to build both a residential environment that supports workers' stable lives and business conditions that help companies grow," Sokcho Mayor Lee Byung-sun said. "We will carefully manage the dormitory's completion and move-in preparations, and steadily push forward with the management plan revision that reflects companies' needs, doing our best to make the Daepo Agricultural-Industrial Complex a good place to work and do business."


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