By Lee Tae-hoon
Staff Reporter
The main opposition Democratic Party (DP) Wednesday criticized Chung Jong-hwan, minister of land, transport and maritime affairs, for lying about the submission of 2010 supplementary budget reports on the four-river refurbishment project.
On Tuesday, Chung said he had already submitted all the necessary information on next year's project via the original budget report and supplementary materials.
The DP refuted this claim, alleging that they had yet to receive any additional reports from Chung since Nov. 11, a day prior to the opening of parliamentary deliberations on the budget plan.
As a result, the National Assembly will unlikely meet the Dec. 2 deadline for the passage of the budget proposal for next year as the minimum period for deliberations is two weeks.
Over the past two decades, the Assembly has completed annual budget deliberations on time less than 10 times, a senior government official complained.
The GNP plans to pass the budget bill by opening an extra-ordinary session shortly after the regular session ends on Dec. 9.
If the bill remains pending in parliament, the government will have to run the budget based on that of last year.
The opposition party has been boycotting the deliberations on the grounds that the government has failed to provide sufficient data on next year's river project.
"Ballpark figures for facilities and land purchases are the only information we have received to review on the ministry's 3.5 trillion-won budget on the rivers," Rep. Park Ki-choon of the DP said. "This makes the budget liberations physically impossible."
Park stressed that Chung should immediately submit specific figures for the budget.
As to the existence of the additional report, Kim Min, a senior budget official at the land ministry, told The Korea Times that no such report has been submitted and the ministry has yet to decide whether or not to reveal any additional details about the project.
Meanwhile, the governing Grand National Party (GNP) is split over the issue.
GNP floor leader Ahn Sang-soo insisted that the ministry has presented more materials than are required for deliberations.
"The submitted legal and explanatory documents are much more specific than the ones produced under any other previous administrations," Ahn said.
However, GNP Chairman Chung Mong-jung said the government should promptly address the complaints of the DP and persuade it to join the budget deliberations by submitting more details.
"Considering the importance of the river project, as well as breaking the deadlock of the deliberations, the government should take a more pro-active approach on the matter."