North Gyeongsang Province will build a new access road to staff housing at Ulleung Airport as it steps up cooperation with related agencies and residents ahead of the airport's opening.
According to the province, it has agreed to construct a 200-meter-long, 6-meter-wide access road leading to the airport's staff quarters.
The total project cost is 3 billion won ($2.25 million), comprising 1.5 billion won in land acquisition costs and 1 billion won in construction costs.
Earlier, on Thursday, the province held a working meeting at the Ulleung-gun office to address pending issues at Ulleung Airport, with about 20 participants including representatives from Ulleung-gun, Korea Airports Corporation and local residents.
The meeting covered the construction of staff housing, a passenger terminal and a sewage treatment facility at the airport. With residents' cooperation, the parties reached an agreement on building the new access road to the staff quarters.
The staff housing complex, planned for 120 units, is to be completed in line with the airport's opening schedule. On Friday, provincial officials visited the construction site to exchange views with residents and agreed to minimize disruption to the community while pushing to finish the work as early as possible.
Construction on Ulleung Airport stood at 83 percent completion as of Tuesday. To accelerate ground-breaking on the landside works — which handle passenger and vehicle movement — the province revised its implementation plan in August, splitting the site development project into two construction packages.
The province is also forming a working group to ensure the airport's stable operation and is pursuing an amendment to the Aviation Business Act. The amendment is expected to include provisions supporting small airlines that serve Ulleung Airport and fare subsidies to guarantee residents' basic right to transportation.
"The opening of Ulleung Airport has been somewhat delayed, causing inconvenience to residents, but we are in talks with small airlines to secure routes," said Park Im-sang, head of the North Gyeongsang Province Airport Promotion Team. "We will do our utmost to install a duty-free shop inside the airport and develop an Ulleung Airport economic zone to usher in an era of 1 million tourists to Ulleung."
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