SEOUL, Jan. 11 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's four business giants are poised to invest in the new city aims to turn into a business and science hub, the government said Monday.

    Samsung Group, Hanhwa Group, Lotte Group and Woongjin Group are the four business giants among private companies expected to put about 4.5 trillion won (four billion U.S. dollars) into building manufacturing and research facilities, which would create more than 22,000 jobs, Prime Minister Chung Un-chan said in the briefing.

    Samsung Group's five units, including the world's top memory chip maker Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd, will set up production lines or research-and-development centers for light-emitting diodes (LED), solar batteries, fuel cells and bio-health chips, according to local media report.

    The chemicals-to-construction giant Hanhwa Group will also build research-and-development and manufacturing facilities for its solar energy and defense businesses, while retail giant Lotte Group and Woongjin Group's flagship unit, the water purifier maker Woongjin Coway Co., will also invest in the city, according to the local media.

    South Korean conglomerates' steps are in line with the government's much-disputed plan to transform the new city of Sejong into a business city, although the initial plan envisaged by the late President Roh Moo-hyun was to move nine ministries and four government agencies to South Chungcheong province, about 160km south of Seoul, in order to make a new administrative center and solve regional disparity.

    Businesses set to move into the new city will be given tax benefits, cheap lands and government subsidies, the government said, in a reversal of President Lee Myung-bak's previous key campaign pledge and an attempt to lure business interests.    

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