GNP leader seeks support for river plan

Grand National Party leader Chung Mong-joon yesterday appealed to the nation to give full support for the disputed four-river restoration project.

In a speech during a public radio program, he said "there were opposing voices against the Cheonggye Stream restoration project President Lee Myung-bak launched while serving as Seoul mayor, but the criticism has now completely vanished."

Chung criticized opposition lawmakers` stance on the river scheme, elaborating that the 16 provincial government heads, including those from the home turfs of the main opposition Democratic Party, have already expressed their support.

"Considering that the budget involving the four-river restoration project takes up only 1.2 percent of next year`s budget, set at 291.8 trillion won ($251.85 billion), do we have to continue to stall budget deliberations on the other 98.8 percent of the expenditure?" he asked. "We have to take away political factors in reviewing the state budget."



The four-river restoration project pushed by the president is a plan intended to prevent natural disasters like floods and droughts and protect the ecosystem, as well as promoting culture and history tourism along the four major rivers - the Han, Nakdong, Geum and Yeongsan - by 2012.

Since last week, the opposition has refused to participate in the budget review process, saying it has not received sufficient data to review the budget for the four-river scheme.

The floor leaders of the two major political parties are scheduled to meet sometime this week to outline a timetable for the remaining regular parliamentary session, which was originally set to end Dec. 9.

In the meantime, the ruling party created its own task force to draft active responses to the opposition parties` criticism over the four-river restoration project.

Headed by GNP two-term lawmaker Kang Ghil-boo, who has served as the minister of the Construction and Transportation Ministry, which has currently transformed into the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs, the task force is composed of 14 lawmakers.

GNP floor leader Ahn Sang-soo insisted that the river project is needed especially for green growth. "The task force will listen to the people`s concerns and opinions, visit the construction sites and examine overseas examples."

The main opposition Democratic Party, on the other hand, said it is considering submitting a motion to dismiss Land and Transport Minister Chung Jong-hwan who is mainly responsible for the contested project.

"If the government chooses not to offer the required data on the project or takes the wrong action, we will put our utmost effort into having the minister step down from his seat," he said.

Lee also added that the parliamentary land, transport and maritime committee will be normalized once the DP gets the additional river scheme data from the government.

(sharon@heraldm.com)



By Cho Ji-hyun