Work on Canal Project to Start in February, 2009
By Ryu Jin
Staff Reporter
The incoming administration will start the construction of the cross-country canal project in February next year for completion in 2011, one year ahead of the end of Lee Myung-bak’s five-year presidency, according to sources Tuesday.
Rep. Lee Jae-oh of the conservative Grand National Party (GNP), one of the closest aides of the president-in-waiting, confirmed the plan. A public hearing will be held early next month, said Lee Dong-kwan, spokesman of the transition team.
Ahead of the hearing, a key member of the presidential power transition committee met CEOs of the country’s top five construction firms in late December to exchange opinions on the mammoth project.
``We outlined the project at a breakfast meeting with CEOs on Dec. 28,’’ said Jang Seok-hyo, who is in charge of the canal project in the transition team. He indicated ground will be broken in February 2009.
CEOs of Daewoo Engineering & Construction, Samsung Corporation, GS Engineering & Construction, Hyundai Engineering & Construction and Daelim Industrial Company attended the gathering, according to other sources.
``They said that they would review the feasibility of the project, though they were noncommittal over whether to take part in the project,’’ one of the participants said. ``They also said that if given the opportunity, they, could play a more active role.’’
Although Lee won the election on a bread-and-butter platform, roughly three out of four Koreans or 71.5 percent, were skeptical about the project in the era of information and hi-tech, according to a poll conducted by the Korea Research for the Seoul Economic Daily, a sister paper of The Korea Times.
Another survey conducted by the vernacular Hankook Ilbo, also a sister company of The Korea Times, showed that 47.6 percent backed the idea, higher than the 38.8 percent who opposed it.
Lee Dong-kwan, the transition team spokesman, said that both advocates and opponents of the canal plan will be invited to the hearing scheduled for early next month. He emphasized that the project will be launched after a series of public hearings.
Negative effects have already started popping up as many speculators bought land preemptively along the projected canal route.
Lee wants to make a watercourse as the nation’s main transport artery by linking Seoul in the northwestern corner to the southeastern port city of Busan to cut transport costs and boost consumption.
Lee plans to link the northern Han River and the southern Nakdong River with a new a 20-kilometer canal so that the 2,100-kilometer route could pass all the way from Seoul through Yangpyeong, Chungju, Mungyeong, Daegu and Miryang to Busan.
He argues that the project, at the construction cost of $15 billion, could create some 700,000 jobs. But opponents of the project said the cost will run as high as $50 billion and foreign migrant workers will fill the dirty, dangerous and difficult jobs.
Nicknamed the ``Bulldozer,’’ he is also known as a leader with a strong driving force who formerly served as the head of the construction unit of Hyundai Group, one of the country’s largest conglomerates.