By Lee Hyo-sik
A provincial court rejected a call by a collection of civic groups to cancel the state-funded restoration work on the Yeongsan River, providing fresh momentum to the four-river refurbishment project Tuesday.
With the latest ruling, all four lawsuits filed to halt the ongoing restoration scheme on Korea’s four major rivers — the Han, Geum, Nakdong and Yeongsan — were rejected.
It is expected to give the government considerable leverage to complete the 22.2 trillion won restoration work by the end of 2011.
In response to the latest court decision, environmentalists and civic groups said they will appeal.
The Jeonju District Court Tuesday ruled against a suit filed by a group of 673 individuals, aimed at forcing the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs to scrap the large-scale public work on the Yeongsan River.
“Given the purpose of the project, the scale of the estimated damage resulting from it compared to the state measures that will mitigate the damage, there seems to be no legal procedural problems serious enough to stop it,” the court said.
It rejected the petitioners’ assertions that the scheme is legally flawed because the central government did not properly consult with the respective municipal administrations.
It also said there isn’t sufficient evidence supporting the plaintiffs’ claim that the government violated a construction guideline drawn to minimize any possible negative impact on the surrounding environment and the companies participating in the project were selected in an unfair manner.