hankyoreh

chairman of the Democratic Party’s Emergency Measures Committee

In response to the Lee Myung-bak administration’s Four Major Rivers Restoration Project, the main opposition Democratic Party (DP) announced an alternative proposal Wednesday for “Saving the Four Major Rivers.”

The “Saving the Yeongsan, Nakdong, and Han Rivers” proposal comes on the heels of the “Saving the Geum River” proposal announced on August 4. The new proposal is structured around opposition to weirs and large-scale dredging, the improvement of water quality, and servicing tributaries and smaller rivers. Three opposition parties, including the DP and the Democratic Labor Party (DLP) and New Progressive Party (NPP), submitted a resolution to the National Assembly legislation division on Wednesday calling for the creation of an ad hoc National Assembly committee to review the Four Major Rivers Restoration Project.

　Lawmaker Lee Mi-kyung, secretary-general of the DP and chairwoman of its special committee to block the Four Major Rivers Restoration Project, held a press conference Wednesday.

　“We simply cannot consent to an MB-style Four Major Rivers Restoration Project that includes large-scale dredging and the construction of large weirs,” said Lee. “The primary goal of the river-saving effort should not be to ensure waterway volume but to improve water quality. And it should be carried out not on the main streams of the four rivers but on tributaries and small rivers, which are vulnerable to natural disasters and urgently in need of servicing, while at the same time taking into account the characteristics of the rivers.”

　Lee’s statements are a direct counterargument against recent claims that the DP has taken a more conciliatory stance on the project.

　The proposal submitted by the DP would cut some 5.24 trillion Won ($4.39 billion) from the Four Major Rivers Project expenses. These cuts would come from halting efforts such as weir construction, bicycle path building, and estuary like expansion for the Nakdong River, whose 10.21 trillion Won budget accounts for nearly half the project’s 22 trillion Won total cost. It would also channel 2.96 trillion Won of the savings into management of noxious substances from industrial complexes, the building of riverside reservoirs, and natural disaster prevention efforts on small rivers and tributaries.

　In the case of the Yeongsan River, the proposed plan would expand wastewater treatment plants on tributaries such as Gwangju Stream, and focus 1.45 trillion Won on water quality improvement, including the removal of polluted soil.

　Out of awareness of the local government heads’ favorable stance to the Lee administration’s Yeongsan River efforts, including South Jeolla Province Governor Park Joon-young, the DP proposed establishing a review committee bringing together local government heads with local civic organizations and the DP for discussions.

　Regarding the Han River, the DP expressed the view that factors such as artificial landscaping projects, bike path construction, and efforts to attract leisure facilities represent a threat to the Grade A quality of Han River water, which is used as a potable water source for 23 million residents of the greater Seoul area. The DP proposed cutting 1.01 trillion Won from the Han River project budget of 3.44 trillion Won and channeling 869.6 billion Won into riverine water quality improvements, including the elimination of nonpoint-source pollution.

　In response to the DP’s proposal, the Lee administration effectively expressed the view that it was “unacceptable.”

　“The Four Major Rivers Restoration Project construction process is 23 percent complete as a whole, but the weir construction is 45 percent finished, nearly half done,” said Shim Myung-pil, head of the Office of National River Restoration in the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs (MLTM). “Under these circumstances, halting weir construction is unthinkable.”

　Regarding proposed adjustments in the weir heights and dredging depths, Shim said, “We are aware that people have said, ‘Let’s reduce the height’ or ‘Let’s leave out the piers,’ but this is technically impossible.”

　Shim emphasized that the project “will be pursued without changes, according to the initial blueprint.”

　In a statement Wednesday, ruling Grand National Party (GNP) spokesman Ahn Hyung-hwan said that dredging and weirs are “the foundation of the Four Major Rivers Restoration Project” and that “we can have discussions so long as this foundation is preserved.”

　Please direct questions or comments to [englishhani@hani.co.kr]