Sihwa landfill to become the largest garden in metropolitan area. August. 31, 2016 07:13. by 남경현기자 bibulus@donga.com. The Sihwa waste landfill in Ansan City of Gyeonggi Province will be transformed into the largest garden in the metropolitan area, becoming a mecca for the gardening industry.

The Gyeonggi provincial government announced Tuesday its plan to move forward with the “Global Garden & Gyeonggi Garden” project with an estimated investment of 56 billion won (50.08 million U.S. dollars) to turn the Sihwa waste landfill, which is 450,000 square meters wide, into the largest garden in the metropolitan area. Gyeonggi Province plans to notify a bid for the revamp of Sihwa landfill in October, and detailed design will be completed by 2018 and the kickoff of the construction will follow in the same year accordingly. The completion of construction is currently scheduled in 2021. “After completion of the project, Gyeonggi Province will be a home of the longest eco-belt of gardens covering the Ansan Reed Marsh Park (400,000 square meters wide) and the Bibong Marshy Park (470,000 square meters wide), and the total area will be 1.32 million square meters wide, bigger than the Suncheon Bay Garden (1.11 million square meters wide),” said Kim Ik-ho, chief of Livestock and Forest Bureau of the Gyeonggi provincial government.

Native plants from five continents, including Africa, Europe, Asia, Oceania and America, and six regions, including Korea, will be displayed all over the Gyeonggi Garden and an observatory deck, environmental education facilities, physical activity facilities and a playground will be installed. In addition, the Gyeonggi Garden will also host the Gyeonggi Garden Center involving conference room, restaurant, education room, history room and souvenir shop and the Garden Industry Sales Retail Center to support gardening design start-ups and gardening material sales.

In addition, the Gyeonggi Garden Culture Expo, which has been held in cities and towns of Gyeonggi Province in turn every other year since 2010, will be held every year from next year. A variety of educational trainings will be prepared such as training sessions to foster citizen gardeners. The Gyeonggi provincial government aims to promote the Gyeonggi Garden not only as a place where visitors can be engaged in tourism and experience-based exercises and playful activities but also a specialized hub to lead the garden culture industry.

The Sihwa waste landfill opened in 1988 and was used as a landfill site of eight cities and towns of Gyeonggi province including Ansan and Suwon until 1994. After the Ministry of Environment confirmed an approval to end its use as a waste landfill in April 1995, stabilization of the landfill site continued. Currently, the Ansan City Office is operating physical activity facilities (70,000 square meters wide) and five-theme walkway (11,919 square meters wide) for the time being with a temporary permit. According to land use restrictions described in the waste control act, a landfill site can be used only for tree planting, grassland creation, park or physical and cultural facilities.

Accordingly, the Nanji landfill in Seoul City and the Munam landfill in Cheongju City in North Chungcheong Province have turned into ecological parks. The Daegok landfill in Daegu City was transformed into an arboretum. “The Gyeonggi Garden will attract 5 million visitors every year and become one of the most famous tourist attractions, considering population of the metropolitan area, tourism infrastructure of surrounding regions and better accessibility than the Suncheon Bay Garden recording 3.4 million visitors annually,” said an official at the Gyeonggi provincial government.