Korea Water: May 27, 2008: Canal project developments.

Two stories, one an editorial, on recent developments in the controversy surrounding the proposed canal project in Korea.

Posted without comment.

Peter Huston
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http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200805/200805260017.html

Canal Opponents Unconvinced by Change of Plan

Opposition to the cross-country canal project is growing even after President Lee Myung-bak last Wednesday said he is putting his original plan to connect all the major water systems across the country on the back burner.
Lee said he plans instead to improve environments in four major rivers -- the Han, the Nakdong, the Geum, and the Yeongsan rivers -- apparently in preparation for the connection of these waterways later. This suggests he basically revised the project from wholesale to gradual implementation -- a change critics feel is tactical rather than substantial.

One researcher at a government-funded think tank has openly said the “real purpose” of connecting a few waterways and dredging the four major rivers is to build the cross-country canal in the end.

Kim I-tae, a researcher at the Korea Institute of Construction Technology, in an article posted on a portal site last Friday said the "table of contents" in the government's river revitalization plan has been revised, but not the content itself.

"I’m being asked almost every day by the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs to formulate answers to the arguments of opponents, but I can't come up with alternatives to outsmart them," he said. Most damagingly, he adds, "What claims to be a 10-year study (on the canal's benefits) by experts has no substance."

The ministry on April 17 outsourced research on the government's comprehensive plan to connect waterways and manage the five largest rivers to KICT. A water quality expert, Kim has been participating in this research project.

The ministry denies putting any pressure on the think tank. KICT vice president Woo Hyo-seop said the research merely aims to find out whether the canal is helpful to flood control and river improvement. “It's inconceivable that the ongoing research is based on a premeditated conclusion,” he added.

Kim's open criticism has fueled an anti-canal campaign. His article had been read by more than 370,000 web users as of Sunday afternoon, and more than 35,000 have joined an online signature collection campaign “to protect Kim I-tae.”

A senior government official said, "At present, any comment on the grand canal by the government sparks further opposition. It seems hard to make predictions on any schedule or plan related to the grand canal project for the time being."

(englishnews@chosun.com )

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EDITORIAL


http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200805/200805260024.html

Is the Government Asking Experts to Sell Their Souls?

Canal Opponents Unconvinced by Change of Plan
Kim I-tae, a researcher at the Korea Institute of Construction Technology, posted an article on the Internet claiming that the government’s plan to first revitalize the four main rivers -- the Han, the Nakdong, the Geum, and the Yeongsan rivers -- in the country is actually part of creeping efforts to build the cross-Korea canal, even as the government is ostensibly backing off from it. “I am being asked almost every day by the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs to give the right answers to the arguments of the opponents, but no matter how much I squeeze my brain, I cannot come up with an alternative,” he said. Experts, such as scientists working for state-run agencies, ought to offer proper directions to replace wrong government policies, but the Lee Myung-bak administration appears to be pushing scientists to give up their souls, Kim said.

In a meeting with provincial government officials from Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province on May 21, President Lee said the connection of the Han and Nakdong rivers, the core of the project, may have to be postponed since it seems to worry people. He said he would first pursue renovation and dredge the four major rivers and restore shipping lanes. Some interpret the president’s latest comments as a sign that he has given up on the canal project, but others believe he is trying to tackle the renovation and clean-up projects first so as to push ahead with the mega-project later.

The government has been saying it would pursue the canal project using private capital. If it uses taxpayers’ money to renovate and clean up the four major rivers and then links the Han and Nakdong rivers later using private capital, then it will end up using taxes to do something it had promised not to do with public funds. It will end up being criticized for using illicit means to make an economically unfeasible project look more attractive to private builders.

The canal needs dredged river beds deep enough to allow 2,500-ton container ships to pass through and requires the construction of reservoirs in order to store water in various locations. Routine renovations of rivers do not require the creation of reservoirs, and this type of project will require only small-scale dredging. If this is followed by large-scale dredging later, in order to allow the passage of large container vessels, money will be spent twice. That is no way to pursue state projects.

Last year, KICT got in trouble by issuing a report, along with the Korea Water Resources Corporation and the Korea Research Institute for Human Settlements, that the grand canal lacked economic feasibility. Kim claims that the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs is now bullying KICT to come up with alternatives to beat the arguments of opponents of the project. If that is true, then the “soulless” public servants working for the ministry are telling scientists at KICT to sell their souls as well. We must get to the bottom of this.