 Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon, center, poses with Gyeonggi Province Governor Kim Moon-soo, right, and Incheon Mayor Ahn Sang-soo after signing a memorandum of understanding at the Korea Press Center in downtown Seoul, Wednesday, to cooperate in the construction of the Seoul-Incheon canal. / Yonhap |
By Park Si-soo
Staff Reporter
Seoul and two other local governments joined hands Wednesday to start the construction of an 18-kilometer-long, 80-meter-wide canal linking the Han River and the West Sea to help boost the economy and create more jobs.
Heads of the three administrative districts encompassing the paths of the waterway ― Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon, Incheon Mayor Ahn Sang-soo, and Gyeonggi Province Governor Kim Moon-soo ― signed the memorandum of understanding to make the Gyeongin (Seoul -Incheon) canal project a form of leverage to pull the country out of its prolonged economic slump.
The MOU calls for the three parties to establish a taskforce to carry through the massive construction and other related projects in the regions.
They plan to come up with various means of public transportations making use of the canal, develop land alongside the man-made waterway, and pave roads leading to inland transportation networks. Various tourism programs using the canal will also take shape in cooperation with the three local governments.
Gyeonggi Governor Kim told reporters that the Gyeongin canal project has little to do with the controversial cross-country grand canal project pushed by the Lee Myung-bak administration.
``The Gyeongin canal project has been discussed for 15 years, well before the idea of a cross-country grand canal project,'' Kim said. ``It's significant to make a waterway from Seoul to the West Sea.''
He said the heads of the three local governments would closely cooperate to resolve any problems and conflicts arising from the project.
However, an alliance of civic groups held a rally Wednesday to denounce the project, demanding the local governments scrap its construction as it is not backed by the public.
``The three governments are pressing ahead with the project without public consensus. It will have an adverse impact on the environment without triggering any major positive impact on the economy,'' the alliance said in a statement.
The government will spend nearly 2.25 trillion won ($2 billion) constructing the route for 4,000-ton freighters and ferry services connecting Yongsan, central Seoul, with ports in China by 2012.
It's part of a massive development plan to irrigate, streamline and protect the Han River and three other major rivers across the country, the thrust of the government's ``New Deal'' to stimulate the economy and create more jobs.
The Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs, the plan's major handler, expects the project to create about 25,000 jobs and three trillion won in economic spillover effects.
pss@koreatimes.co.kr
