The government said it will spend a total of 22.2 trillion won (US$17.8 billion) by 2012 on the so-called “Four-River Restoration Project.”
The project to develop the Han, Nakdong, Geum and Yeongsan Rivers flowing through the country’s major urban, industrial and farming areas is a key part of the Green New Deal, a set of policies the government announced earlier this year aimed at laying the groundwork for Korea’s green growth.
Green growth is defined as achieving sustainable economic growth by developing low-carbon, eco-friendly industries.
In detail, the master plan for the project calls for 16.9 trillion won to be used for the main work on the four rivers named above, with an additional 5.3 trillion won to be allocated to improve water flow and sewage conditions in smaller-sized waterways.
In order to prepare for an expected a water shortage of 1 billion cubic meters by 2016 due to climate change, the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs, which is in charge of the construction, said that dams, catchment basins and reservoirs will be built to store up to 1.3 billion cubic meters of fresh water.
In addition, 16 new catchment basins that can hold an additional 800 million cubic meters of water will be built, while about 100 reservoirs are to be refurbished to provide 250 million cubic meters of water for farmlands.
Work will also be undertaken to prevent floods. To that end, river banks will be strengthened, with flood gates to be built on the estuary of the Nakdong and Yeongsan Rivers.
To improve water quality, about 750 sewage processing plants and 46 new water treatment facilities to deal with used water from industrial and agricultural complexes will be built.
In addition, up to 1,728km of dedicated bicycle paths will be built along the rivers, turning the rivers into centers for culture and leisure and prompting "green growth" in the local economy.
The participating ministries for the river restoration projects are the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries as well as the Ministry of Environment.
Officials say that most of the planned construction is expected to be done by 2011, although the building of dams and reservoirs will be completed by 2012.
June 8, 2009
By Han Aran
Korea.net Staff Writer
