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Thursday June 19, 5:44 PM
S. Korea Halts Canal Project Research, Disbands Task ForceSEOUL, June 19 Asia Pulse -- South Korea's Transportation Ministry said Thursday work commissioned to verify the feasibility of constructing a controversial cross-country canal network has been halted. The move comes right after President Lee Myung-bak said in a press conference that he is willing to give up building the waterway system, which would link the country's major rivers, if the Korean people oppose it.
"Right after the president's remarks that he will not push for the waterway project if the people are against it, we held inside consultations and decided to stop the research," said Kwon Jin-bong, the ministry's deputy minister for construction and water resources policy. Kwon also said that his ministry will disband the 25-member task force which was formed to spearhead the inland waterway project. The construction of the waterway was one of President Lee's key campaign pledges. The project consists of 17 routes, including a 540-kilometer waterway linking rivers in Seoul and Busan. Lee has said the large-scale construction would cut the nation's logistics costs by a third, promote balanced regional development, create thousands of jobs and boost tourism. However, opposition parties and civic activists have warned that the project would be environmentally disastrous and astronomically expensive. The latest move might represent a serious setback to the nation's top 10 construction firms. They have formed two separate consortiums and have been prepared over the past months to participate in the government-led mega project. (Yonhap)
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