Yongin City Passes Central Government Investment Review for Bandabi Sports Center and Baekam Elementary School Complex Facility Construction
[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Choi Ki-ho] Yongin Special City announced on the 7th that two construction projects—the 'Bandabi Sports Center' for shared use by people with and without disabilities and the 'Baekam Elementary School Complex Facility' featuring an indoor gymnasium with a swimming pool for use by citizens and students—have passed the Ministry of Interior and Safety's Central Government Investment Review.
After the central investment review approval, the remaining procedure is only the public property deliberation, which is an administrative formality, so both projects have reached the confirmation stage, according to Mayor Lee Sang-il.
Mayor Lee Sang-il stated: "I take great pride in the passage of the Bandabi Sports Center construction, a facility long desired by people with disabilities, and the Baekam Elementary School Complex Facility construction, which has been recognized as an excellent facility for citizens and students of Baekam-myeon through the 2023 Ministry of Education public recruitment and selection, through the most critical gateway of the Ministry of Interior and Safety's central investment review, as another achievement of the 'Yongin Renaissance.' We will proceed with both projects that will enhance Yongin's urban status according to plan," he added.
After receiving a "reconsideration" result in the central government investment review for the Bandabi Sports Center last October, the city explained that Yongin is on a journey to become a metropolitan city due to population growth, that the construction of disability sports facilities appropriate to such a future is necessary, and that the Korea Paralympic Committee and other organizations have confirmed plans to host the 2028 National Disabled Swimming Competition in Yongin shortly after the Bandabi Sports Center's completion, thereby achieving a reconsideration pass in the central investment review.
A total of 12 billion won will be invested in the construction of the Bandabi Sports Center, including 4 billion won in national funding secured through selection in the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism's "Community-Oriented (Disability-Focused)" National Sports Center construction recruitment in July of last year.
The city plans to construct the Bandabi Sports Center on a 19,920 square-meter lot at the temporary parking lot of Yongin Mirs Stadium in Samga-dong, Cheoein-gu, with a basement of 2 stories and above-ground of 3 stories.
The sports center is scheduled to be equipped with a swimming pool certified as Grade 2 by the Korea Swimming Federation, capable of hosting national competitions. This 50-meter swimming pool will have 10 lanes and over 2,000 spectator seats. An underwater exercise room and diving pool will also be created alongside the swimming pool—this will be the first time a 50-meter swimming pool has been installed in Yongin.
The city plans to establish a multipurpose gymnasium and a disability fitness certification center above the swimming pool and secure 541 parking spaces, including parking for people with disabilities.
After the public property deliberation, the city plans to conduct basic and detailed design of the sports center by the end of next year, begin construction in 2027, and complete it in the second half of 2028.
The Baekam Elementary School Complex Facility had received a "reconsideration" notice in last year's central investment review due to insufficient local government funding and demand caused by the lack of student and population numbers in the Baekam-myeon area.
In response, the city explained Yongin's future vision as a semiconductor-focused city that will grow into a metropolis of 1.5 million people and proposed a plan to operate a regional survival swimming education facility that could also be used by elementary school students from adjacent cities—Icheon and Anseong—which face difficulties in providing survival swimming education to their students, thereby passing this review.
During the reconsideration process, six organizations in Baekam-myeon submitted petition letters advocating for the construction of the Baekam Elementary School Complex Facility, which helped in the investment review approval.
The Baekam Elementary School Complex Facility is a project for which Mayor Lee Sang-il met with Park Sang-yun, then Vice Minister of the Ministry of Education, in July 2023 to notify him of the application to the Ministry of Education's school complex facility public recruitment project and requested support by explaining the project's justification. The Ministry of Education selected this project as a public recruitment project in September that year.
This project will demolish the aging auditorium of Baekam Elementary School, which is 40 years old, and create a swimming pool and gymnasium that can be used by both students and local residents. The city will invest a total of 2.79 billion won, of which 840 million won—30% of the total—will be supported by the Ministry of Education.
The Baekam Elementary School Complex Facility, to be built with a basement of 1 floor and above-ground of 3 floors with a total floor area of 4,352 square meters, will include a swimming pool (25 meters, 5 lanes), a multipurpose gymnasium, a GX room, a study room, and club rooms.
After the public property deliberation, the city plans to conduct a design competition for the school complex facility and begin construction in December 2026, with completion scheduled for the first half of 2028.