IFEZ Journal

Songdo Development Being Actively 

Promoted through the Signing of a 

Business Agreement with NSIC

Incheon City and New Songdo International City Development (NSIC) are collaborating to revitalize the development of Songdo International Business District (IBD).

As Incheon City and NSIC signed a business agreement that includes free donations of international school land and the expansion of residents’ convenience facilities, the further development of Songdo is expected to gain momentum.

Revitalizing the Progress of Undeveloped Land in Songdo

In November last year, IFEZ signed a business agreement with NSIC to revitalize Songdo IBD’s development. In the 20 years since the Songdo IBD development plan was established (in 2003), international-level infrastructure has been created. Development progress has reached 80%, but the pace has recently slowed due to internal and external constraints. These constraints include expansion of business risks and the increased burden of financing due to the global financial crisis, stagnation in the sales market, reduction of incentives for tenant companies, and changes in the development trend of free economic zones.

In this situation, opinions have been consistently raised about the necessity of a new development strategy for undeveloped land in Songdo. Accordingly, IFEZ and NSIC carried out a service to establish a strategy to revitalize the development of Songdo International Business Complex from 2020 to 2022. In this process, an expert advisory group, appointed from various fields, ranging from urban economy, urban planning, real estate, consulting, and accounting, held several in-depth meetings. In May last year, they engaged in intensive discussions to resolve pending issues at a development-revitalization workshop.

This agreement is the result of many years of discussions. Measures to revitalize development by flexibly changing the development plan include expanding opportunities to attract corporate investment in business-facility sites and expanding residents’ convenience facilities. If these measures can resolve current problems, the slowed-down development will recover its pace toward revitalization.

Leaping into the Center of Global Education

The land for schools is the area where the most significant change is expected due to this agreement. Additional school sites will be secured, including one elementary school, middle school, and kindergarten in Block I9-10, Zone 1, along with one elementary school in the neighborhood park of Block G5-2, Zone 3. Additionally, the high price of land supply has been an obstacle to finding excellent foreign school corporations to run international schools. The NSIC-owned international school site (71.771 km2 in Block F18), whose development had been stagnant for a long time due to this problem, will be donated free of charge to Incheon City. In the case of international schools, development was challenging because, according to current laws, international school corporations cannot make profits, and the initial cost burden of establishing and operating a school was high.a

Thus, securing additional school land made attracting leading overseas educational institutions possible. In particular, the strengthened status as a global education center will be a great advantage in attracting companies. In addition, the opportunities to promote the development project of business facilities will expand and contribute to revitalizing development in the long term.

IFEZ Commissioner Kim Jin-yong said, “Signing this agreement, we hope to solve problems related to school shortage, long-term underdevelopment of international schools, stagnant development of business-facility sites, and inconveniences in residents’ lives due to lack of commercial space in Zone 3. We will join forces with NSIC to proceed smoothly with the development project of Songdo IBD.”