Gov't Pushes for Four-River Restoration Scheme

Master plan to cost 16.9 tln won for projects to restore the nation's four major rivers

The government announced a finalized plan to inject 16.9 trillion won into projects to restore the nation's four major rivers ― the Han, Nakdong, Geum and Yeongsan ― by 2011.
The Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs (MLTM), the Ministry of Environment (ME), the Ministry of Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MIFAFF), and the Ministry of Culture (MCST), Sports and Tourism announced on June 8 the master plan for the restoration of the four rivers, which calls for securing sufficient water and to control floods, among other things.
The ministries will undertake projects to dredge riverbeds and build dams and reservoirs and other projects with the goal of securing a combined 1.3 billion cubic meters of water resources and 920 billion cubic meters of flood-controlling water. The government expects that the projects will contribute to improving the quality of the four rivers to the average Grade 2 level.
Kwon Jing-bong, assistant minister of construction and water resources policy at the MLTM said, “The unswerving goals of the projects are to address such issues as water shortages and floods in the wake of the effects of climate change.”
The master plan states the pursuit of five major tasks: responding to climate change; the co-existence between nature and human beings; building a foundation for balanced regional development; green growth; and reinventing the nation's territory.
In an effort to solve the water shortage, which is predicted to surge to 800 million cubic meters by 2011 and 1 billion cubic meters by 2016 and to control floods against the effects of climate change, 16 reservoirs and three small- and medium-sized dams will be built, and the embankment of the existing reservoirs for agricultural use will be heightened to secure a combined 1.3 billion cubic meters of water resources.
The accumulated mud on riverbeds will be dredged and old, dilapidated river embankments will be reinforced to take preemptive measures against floods, which are becoming more frequent, including the formidable one that hits every 200 years. The construction of dams, designed to secure 920 million cubic meters of flood-controlling water, will be considered.

























The quality of the main streams of water will be improved to the Grade 2 level, or less than 3mg/liter of biological oxygen demand (BOD) by expanding wastewater treatment facilities and red tide reduction installations. The ecosystem of ecological streams, wetlands and the restructuring of farming land will be restored. In particular, a focus will be on the improvement of 34 river areas that get severely polluted so that the four-river restoration scheme will bear much fruit in its efforts toward improving water quality. The government will give top investment priority to improve the water quality of Gyeongan-cheon, Geumho-gang, Gap-cheon, Miho-cheon and Gwangju-cheon streams and its tributaries.
The Office of National River Restoration will have a bureau exclusively charged with water quality and environmental issues to coordinate their steps to improve water quality.
Streams will be changed into multi-purpose spaces suited for life, leisure, tourism, culture and green growth and will have bicycle lanes totaling 1,728 km in length, recreational spots in which tourists can experience farm life, walking paths and sporting facilities.
The government scheme is divided into main river restoration projects, directly connected projects and indirectly connected projects.
The main projects designed to secure sufficient water and to control floods will be done in the main streams of the four rivers, as initially planned by Lee Myung-bak government last December.
The government said 16.9 trillion won will be poured into the undertaking of the main projects ― 3 trillion won more than the original version. The total will break down to 2 trillion won for Han River projects; 9.8 trillion won for Nakdong River projects; 2.5 trillion won for Geum River projects; and 2.6 trillion won for Yeongsan River projects.
An additional 5.3 trillion won will be invested in the implementation of directly connected projects to refurbish 14 national tributaries of the four rivers and to install wastewater treatment facilities.
Indirectly connected projects include regional stream refurbishment projects, to be executed by the MLTM; beautiful river and village projects, to be undertaken by the MIFAFF; and four-river culture projects, to be done by the MCS. An estimate of the size of the budgets for the implementation of the connected projects cannot be made since they are to be done by each ministry according to mid- and long-term plans each will establish.
The main projects of the four-river restoration scheme will be complete by 2011, while the construction of dams and reservoirs for agricultural use and other directly connected projects will be finished by 2012.
The projects will be divided into 21 turn-key construction sections and 68 ordinary construction sections. The first tender will be placed this month and the second one is slated for between October and December.
All owners of farming areas within the riverside areas of the four rivers will be compensated to facilitate the progress of the projects. Sand and other materials coming from the rivers will be put on the market in the mid- and long-term as a means of balancing the supply and demand of the materials market.
About 1,482 buried cultural property concentration areas will be divided into three groups to turn them into parks and greenery areas. nw

Kwon Jing-bong, assistant minister of construction and water resources policy at the MLTM