By Na Jeong-ju
Staff Reporter
President Lee Myung-bak pledged eco-friendly development of the reclaimed land at Saemangeum in North Jeolla Province, Tuesday, saying the project will help realize his "low carbon, green growth" vision.
"A large green city will be built on the reclaimed land to serve as a business and logistics hub in East Asia. It will be another miracle of the Korean economy," Lee said during a ceremony in Gunsan, North Jeolla Province, to mark the completion of 19 years of work to build a 34-kilometer-long seawall, the world's longest manmade dyke.
"We will make Saemangeum an international example of environmentally friendly development, building facilities to improve the quality of water and natural parks for wild animals and birds. It is no longer a dream."
Like the government's other environmental venture to refurbish four major rivers, the Saemangeum project will showcase how economic growth and environmental protection are compatible, said the CEO-turned-President.
"If the four-river project is to revive dying rivers, the Saemangeum project is to construct a comprehensive and planned green city for the first time in South Korea," Lee said.
The seawall, built at the cost of 2.9 trillion won ($2.6 billion), will create 40,100 hectares of developable land and fresh water lakes - about five times bigger than Manhattan. The government plans to turn the area into a mammoth complex for high-tech industry, leisure and green business by 2020.
Lee said there are 51 cities, each with a population of more than one million, within a three-hour flight distance from Saemangeum.
Environmentalists and some religious groups have protested the four-river and Saemangeum projects, claiming that they will destroy the country's ecosystems.
In recent months, scores of Buddhist monks and Catholic nuns have joined environmental groups to hold protests near the four rivers - the Han, Nakdong, Geum and Yeongsan.
Lee called the Saemangeum seawall "the Great Wall on the sea."
"This great, unprecedented structure has changed the map of Korea. I believe it will become an economic highway for Korea to reach the world beyond Northeast Asia," he said.