The vast majority of South Koreans believe that the project to refurbish the nation's four major rivers under former President Lee Myung-bak has caused more problems than it has solved, a poll showed Wednesday.
   
The survey on 1,000 South Koreans nationwide showed that more than 75 percent thought the project has failed to prevent floods and supply water at times of drought.
   
The survey was conducted from Oct. 13-15 by local polling agency Macromilembrain. It was made public by the Citizens' Institute for Environmental Studies, a private research organization that requested the study.
   
Lee, who served as president from 2008 to 2013, spearheaded the project aimed at improving water security and enhancing the ecosystems of South Korea's four major rivers: the Han, Nakdong, Geum and Yeongsan. The project cost 22 trillion won (US$20.4 billion) but has had dubious success, according to the state auditor last year.
   
More than 80 percent of the survey respondents said the project did not improve the water quality of the rivers or create new jobs.

Nearly 80 percent thought the algal blooms observed in the lower reaches of the rivers were caused by the project.
   
Almost 40 percent said the government should allocate state funds to pay off part of the debts incurred from the project, while 36.2 percent said the Korea Water Resources Corp., the state-run water management company, should shoulder all the burden.
   
Some 90.1 percent said the key officials who worked for the project under Lee should take responsibility if alleged irregularities in the project are found to be true.
   
The survey had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points at the 95 percent confidence level.
   
Last month, the chief of the main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy said the party will consider pushing for a parliamentary investigation into the controversial project. (Yonhap)