A project to improve the commercial and cultural complex station of the outdated Busan National University station was scheduled to be completed in January, but it has been discovered that construction has not even commenced.

Last 2020, Busan Transportation Corporation (BTC) agreed with a private construction company to push for a project to develop the Pusan National University (PNU) station on Busan metro line 1 into a complex station equipped with commercial and cultural facilities and was supposed to complete it by January this year. However, the plan was postponed without a clear alternative, so construction still needs to begin.

Busan metro line 1, that launched in 1985 and including PNU station, has been deteriorating. It needs considerable budget to remodel the station in Busan metro line 1, so has been maintained with only urgent problems addressed. PNU station has also been experiencing chronic leakage problems due to the severe aging of the walls. Lee Dong-Jin (Manager, PNU station of BTC) said, "Other stations are continuing supplementation construction for the urgent part, but PNU station cannot properly supplement because it has not been decided."

PNU station is a place where many Busan citizens, including PNU students, get on and off, so they paid attention to whether to implement complex station development. PNU Station ranked 9th out of 40 stations on Line 1, with an average of 27,993 people boarding and disembarking subways per day last year. related posting is frequently updated on the PNU anonymous community "Everytime."

The discussion of PNU station’s complex area development has been ongoing since 2011. However, it was not able to progress immediately, because of the concern that private finance initiatives can hinder the public, and a considerable budget was needed. BTC established the three principles of personal investment projects in 2019, secured the project's publicness, and signed a development agreement with a private construction company in 2020, but failed to start construction.

BTC pointed out the delay in the agreement due to the internal circumstances of the private company as the reason for the delay in the project. The PR Team of the BTC said, “Since the construction company is a private company (not a public institution), it is difficult to share detailed progress on internal issues.”

Currently, it is yet to be known whether the PNU station complex area development project is implemented or progressively discussed. Team leader Kim said, "We are continually discussing this with the construction company, but cannot give you a definite answer. It is expected to take months to decide when to begin the construction."

Reporter Choi Ye-Won

Translated by Yoon Da-Gyo