A consortium called CH2M HILL-Kunwon, chosen as the project's program management consortium, has said the relocation could be done by November 2012, a Defense Ministry official said.

The consortium will cooperate with the U.S. Forces Korea Base Relocation Office at the Defense Ministry to take charge of the project. That includes project controls, planning and management, support for placing orders and making contracts, design and supervision, and quality and environmental controls.

The ministry on Thursday signed a contract with the consortium to manage the W160 billion (US$1=W938) project. The construction schedule is set for five years and five months, putting the completion date at November 2012. However the ministry has not yet officially confirmed this with U.S. authorities.

The two countries had originally agreed that the Yongsan base would be relocated to Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province by the end of 2008. But protests by Pyeongtaek residents delayed the project, with some predicting the base would be relocated by 2013.

Meanwhile, residents of Seotan-myon in Pyeongtaek are protesting an Air Force decision to buy a 462,000-sq.m site in the area for a base to be built by 2010. That site is near a 2.11 million-sq.m plot earmarked for the U.S. military.

A Defense Ministry official said, "The [462,000-sq.m] site will be developed to secure a safety zone for an Air Force ammunition depot. It has nothing to do with the expansion of the U.S. military base."

(englishnews@chosun.com )