＂Government should support hinterland highways,” suggests KITA

Against prolonging the container tax in Pusan, the Korea International Trading Association (KITA) asked the government on November 11 for financial support to build hinterland highways.

KITA pointed out that hinterland highways should be built primarily with government funds in order to foster the Port of Pusan as a major hub port in Northeast Asia.

KITA said that hinterland highways in the Port of Kwangyang were supplied wholly from the central government at a cost of 376.4 billion won. Further, the central government provided Ulsan with 73.1% of their total construction costs, 44.9 of 61.4 billion won, KITA proclaimed. However, Pusan only received 28.7% of construction costs from the central government. This is the major reason for prolonging the container tax another 10 years, pointed out KITA.

KITA claimed that Pusan City should end collecting the container tax as of the end of this year, in line with previous promises, and prepare its own source of revenue besides any central government funding.

In the mean time, KITA has scheduled a discussion forum titled "Is it appropriate to collect container taxes in Pusan?"

The container tax was originally introduced in 1992 as a 10-year temporary measure to build highways in the hinterlands surrounding Pusan. Since then, the tax has paid for 21.7% of total construction costs, or 511 billion won. However, Pusan is pushing to prolong the tax as construction is not yet finished.