Busan City Signs Agreement with Saha-gu for Seobusan Medical Center Construction

The Busan Metropolitan City has announced that it will be signing a business agreement with Saha-gu to ensure the early construction and successful operation of the Seobusan Medical Center. The agreement promises to provide mutual cooperation between the two entities for the smooth and timely construction of the medical center.

The signing ceremony will be attended by Busan Mayor Park Heong-joon and Saha-gu district Mayor Lee Gap-jun. Once the agreement is signed, Busan City and Saha-gu Office will review the method of site purchase and land exchange based on the appraised value to facilitate the early construction of the medical center. Both organizations have also promised mutual financial and administrative support to ensure the smooth operation of the facility.

The city has faced difficulties securing a site for the Seobusan Medical Center. The project site is owned by Saha-gu office and Busan Transportation Corporation, and the city initially failed to request a 'free transfer' from Saha-gu. Recently, the city turned to a 'purchase of public land' because the city's Private Investment Project Committee deliberations last year were conditioned on the purchase of public land.

The Seobusan Medical Center project site is jointly owned by Saha-gu and the Busan Transportation Corporation. Saha-gu's land is valued at 16.4 billion won, while the Transportation Corporation's land is valued at 2 billion won. Despite the city's request to purchase the land for the medical center, Saha-gu office has refused to sell the land, citing the principle of land acquisition by compensation in public utilities. This principle is based on the appraised value of the land rather than the government-appraised land price. Saha-gu office argues that the city's purchase of the land at the declared land value through public announcement would be legally impossible. They estimate the appraised land price to be around 40 billion won.

Despite facing challenges in securing a suitable site for the construction of Seobusan Medical Center, the facility remains committed to bridging the regional medical gap between the east and west of Busan, strengthening the public healthcare system, and providing emergency and disaster response services, including for infectious diseases like COVID-19. The hospital will be located at 646-1 Sinpyeong-dong, Saha-gu, on a site area of 15,750 square meters and a gross floor area of 32,773 square meters, with five floors from the basement to the first floor. The center is designed to be a 300-bed general hospital-class public medical facility that will be developed through a lease-type private investment project. The construction of the facility is set to begin in 2025 and is expected to be completed by 2027.

To ensure a balanced development of the east and west, and to support the citizens of the western part of the city, Mayor Park has promised to do his best to ensure the Seobusan Medical Center is built without a hitch. He further added, "This agreement will serve as a good example of successfully leading the construction of the Seobusan Medical Center, a core project for building a public medical belt, in cooperation with the local government."