South Korea: Lotte Group Gets Go-Ahead for Construction of “Lotte World II”

Right before Christmas, the South Korean government gave the Lotte Group the go-ahead for construction of “Lotte World II”. The Lotte enterprise expects that the construction work in Shincheon-dong will be able to commence at mid-year. By this time, all construction permit procedures should be finalised. It is currently anticipated that construction will take four to five years, which means “Lotte World II” will be able to open in 2013 or 2014. The investment volume will run at 1.1 to 1.5 billion dollars. The new park is expected to have around 23,000 employees. Lotte’s management is increasingly placing its bets on tourists from abroad: the percentage of foreign tourists to the country should grow by 20 to 30 percent once the new park opens. Planning foresees that the figurehead, the main tower, will ensure that “Lotte World II” gets a respective degree of global media publicity as the tallest building in the world. (eap)