Waterfront City Plan

Saemangeum Should Be Last Pork-Barrel Project

It appears to be fantastic news that the nation will have an international business and tourism city resembling Amsterdam or Venice. On Friday, the government announced a blueprint for a new waterfront city to be built on the reclaimed land in Saemanguem, about 200 kilometers south of Seoul. The plan will cost the state and local authorities 21 trillion won ($18 billion) by 2030.

Residents of the area welcomed the development scheme that calls for the construction of an industrial complex, tourism and leisure facilities, international business headquarters, ecological parks, science research centers and farmland. They expect the mega project to give a boost to the local economy and promote balanced regional development.

In 1991, the government started the shovel-ready project to create farmland by reclaiming the tidal flat at Saemangeum along the southwestern coast. It has changed the original farmland plan twice as the nation no longer needs additional farmland due to the oversupply of rice and the shrinking agricultural sector. In 2008, it reduced the ratio of farmland over the to-be-developed land from the original 72 percent to 30 percent.

For the success of the project, the government needs to overcome some obstacles. First, it should work out concrete measures to raise the astronomical amount for the development costs. Twenty-three percent of the 21 trillion won will be funded from taxpayers' money, while the rest will be raised by tapping private capital from investors at home and abroad. However, skepticism is growing over the government's ability to attract the necessary investment.

The Lee Myung-bak administration has already set aside 22.2 trillion won for a four-river refurbishment project, while seeking to inject 22.5 trillion won into a to-be-revised Sejong City plan that calls for the construction of a business-education-research complex instead of an administrative town. Policymakers must bear in mind that the budget problem is a critical factor in deciding the fate of the Saemangeum project.

The second problem is how to upgrade the quality of water to be supplied to the planned waterfront city that will cover 400 square kilometers. The government has promised to spend 3 trillion won to ensure higher water quality. But officials should see that the quality has deteriorated even though 1.3 trillion won was spent over the last eight years.

We have to point out that the government is too optimistic about the project which lacks concrete action plans and financial resources. It is time to overhaul many other government-led development projects across the country. Undoubtedly, reckless and poorly-organized pork-barrel projects may do more harm than good to the economy and the nation.

Such projects could only stoke property speculation and waste taxpayers' money as seen in the case of the free economic zone in Songdo, Incheon, which has so far drawn only speculators instead of foreign investors. Thus, Saemangeum should be the last pork-barrel project. It is imperative that politicians, lawmakers, governors and majors refrain from wooing votes on populist promises of massive regional development projects.