By Kim Hyun-cheol
Staff Reporter
The government will complete the development project for the nation's four biggest rivers by the first half of 2011, Minister of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs Chung Jong-hwan said Friday.
"A longer period of construction will lead to a bigger budget for the project. So it should be executed at a speedy pace under the principles of selection and concentration," Minister Chung said during a breakfast meeting at the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry in downtown Seoul.
On commencing the project Chung said, "The quicker, the better. Hopefully, the other conditions remain positive, since the construction work on river basins is strongly affected by climate conditions.
"With competitive builders doing their utmost, 60 percent of the work can be done by next year, and the entire project needs to be finished before the rainy season starts in 2011."
He also downplayed ongoing criticism of the project that it will inevitably eat up much more expense than initially earmarked, and the budget for other social overhead capital will be cut.
"About 60 percent of the budget earmarked for the project will be spent in turnkey constructions, which can't be changed from the original plan," the minister said.
"And there will be no budget hike if everything is completed within three years. The government will make sure of the process control throughout the project, so it will not lead to a waste of money in the end."
The total expense for the four-river plan is equal to only 1 percent of the nation's entire budget, so it doesn't make sense that it will erode budgets for other social infrastructure, he added.
Despite the minister's wishes, it is likely to take more time even to settle the budget problems alone as debates are getting heated in the National Assembly.
Conflicts between the ruling and opposition parties were on an upsurge Thursday, the first day of an extra Assembly session to determine the nation's overall budget for next year, after a government committee railroaded the ministry's budget plan Tuesday, which included 3.5 trillion won ($3 billion) for the project.
The rift between the two parties is not narrowing over the budget. The ruling Grand National Party is sticking to the current plan, while the opposition party is claiming it should contract it to 1 trillion won.
So far, public opinion doesn't appear to be too favorable toward the large-sized construction plan.
In the latest public survey by local politics Webzine Polinews, 37.9 percent of the respondents said it should be scrapped right away and 22.7 percent said the budget should be reduced, while 27.3 percent said the plan should go ahead as planned.
The poll was conducted on 1,139 adults across the country, after President Lee Myung-bak appeared on television to promote government policies late last month.