Seoul to speed up business approval in Incheon airport FEZ
South Korea said Tuesday that it will revamp business authorization guidelines to help domestic and foreign companies invest more easily in the Incheon International Airport free economic zone (FEZ).
The airport FEZ is one of the free economic zones Asia’s third-largest economy is pushing to develop as part of efforts to become a business hub in Northeast Asia.
“The change, to go into effect in April, will make it easier to build logistics terminals at the airport zone,” the Ministry of Construction and Transportation said.
Once the overhaul takes effect, the approval process will be shortened to about six months from the current period of up to one year, it said.
The free economic region, located 40 kilometers west of Seoul, covers 34,141 acres and will be developed by 2010. It includes a bonded area where various taxes and customs duties are exempted. Seoul wants to build a large logistics center that can become a logistics hub in Northeast Asia.
The ministry said the revamp will make it easier for foreign companies such as DHL, the logistics unit of Germany’s Deutsche Post AG, to build a large air cargo terminal at Incheon and for local companies to set up operations in the area.
DHL said on Feb. 12 that it will invest USD75 million by 2020 to build a terminal that can handle 7 million tons of air cargo a year.
The airport zone is part of a larger FEZ covering the Songdo and Cheongna areas of the port city. According to a government plan, the regions will have a population of 2.6 million people and accommodate 7,600 companies.
