 President Lee Myung-bak waves the national flag along with children during a ceremony to mark the dedication of the 34-kilometer-long seawall at the Saemangeum reclaimed land project in North Jeolla Province, Tuesday. / Korea Times Photo by Sohn Yong-seok |
By Kim Tae-gyu
Staff Reporter
After almost two decades of construction, a world record-breaking 33.9-kilometer-long coastal seawall was completed in Korea, converting 401 square kilometers of mud flats into farmland and reservoirs, about two-thirds the size of Seoul.
Thousands of bureaucrats, politicians, ambassadors and residents participated in the opening ceremony of the Saemangeum sea dike Tuesday, which took 2.9 trillion won and 19 years to complete.
The government is striving to develop the reclaimed lands in the southwestern area of the peninsula as a premium city accommodating industrial parks, eco-friendly farmlands, high-tech research facilities and tourist attractions.
Toward that end, the Seoul administration plans to channel more than 20 trillion won during the next 10 years.
"The first development phase of the Saemangeum area will take 20.8 trillion won by 2020 in order to lay the groundwork to develop there," an official at the Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries predicted.
"To achieve the plan, foreign investments would have to play a big role. We will also attract multinational corporations to the region."
Under the goal, the government would introduce a new name for the region, Ariul, as complaints have been raised that Saemangeum is too difficult for foreigners to pronounce.
But suspicions remain whether just changing its name would automatically ensure overseas investors to the area, which the country hopes will evolve into a hub of Northeast Asia.
In particular, some mega-sized development projects are overdue because of the lack of foreign interest as demonstrated by slow developments of New Songdo City in Incheon.
A flurry of state projects are also pending, which will cost tens of trillions of won. For example, both the four-river refurbishment works and construction of Sejong City will need more than 22 trillion won, respectively, thus leaving little financial room for the Saemangeum expenditures.
"It does not matter that much whether the Saemangeum sea dike is the longest in the world. What really matters is whether it will lure foreign direct investment for its full-fledged development," a Seoul analyst said.
"Just an anemic incentive is not enough to draw offshore funds. The government is required to come up with proactive and broad-based measures to draw foreign investment," he continued.
The project of filling in the Saemangeum estuary, which is located approximately 280 kilometers south of Seoul, was initiated in 1991 but slowed due to court actions by conservationists.
While foreign reclamation projects typically take place in shallow waters, the Saemangeum sea dike was installed in a relatively deep sea - its average height is 34 meters with the deepest point reaching 54 meters, the farm ministry said.
It is the longest seawall ever, nudging past the previous record-holder, the Zuiderzee Works in the Netherlands. The ministry said that it will be accepted by the Guinness World Records.
The ministry projects that the technological know-how acquired while building the sea dike will help the country win large-sized reclamation projects overseas in the future.
