Relocation costs going up for S. Korea?

[unhappycamper]

Relocation costs going up for S. Korea?
By Ashley Rowland, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Thursday, June 12, 2008

SEOUL — South Korea will have to pay almost $9 billion to relocate U.S. military bases to Pyeongtaek, about $3 billion more than defense officials estimated last spring, several South Korean newspapers reported this week.

According to some reports, unnamed sources said completion of the Camp Humphreys expansion at Pyeongtaek could be delayed by as much as four years to 2016. U.S. military bases in and north of Seoul are supposed to close and their troops are scheduled to move to Humphreys by 2012.

The South Korean reports said the cost of the relocation has increased because of rising costs for construction, compensation for Pyeongtaek landowners whose property will become part of the new base, and clean up of U.S. military bases being returned to South Korea.

The reports said the new amounts were based on a Ministry of National Defense audit.

When asked about the possible cost increase, a South Korean defense spokesman told Stars and Stripes on Tuesday that official numbers for the cost and length of construction will be released in August.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=55456



uhc comment: I guess they are not getting the new, improved downtown anytime soon --> http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=259&topic_id=16032