The Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment decided to proceed with five of the 14 new dam construction plans pushed during the Yoon Suk-yeol administration. Earlier, the ministry said it would fully halt construction of seven dams last year and put the remaining seven through a review process, including public discussions.
Minister Kim Sung-hwan of the ministry held a press briefing at Government Complex Seoul on the 27th and announced the results of the additional review of new dams. Specifically, five sites—Jicheon Dam (Cheongyang and Buyeo), Amicheon Dam (Yeoncheon), Byeongyeongcheon Dam (Gangjin), Hoeya River Dam (Ulsan), and Gohyeoncheon Dam (Geoje)—will be built as planned, while two sites—Gamcheon Dam (Gimcheon) and Garyecheon Dam (Uiryeong)—will pursue alternative projects instead of dams.
◇ Jicheon Dam in the Chungcheong region to be built for the megaproject… Gwangju semiconductor water to be secured by raising Dongbok Dam
Jicheon Dam was initially reviewed for flood control, but it is slated to be built as a multipurpose dam that also supplies water, taking into account rising demand due to a recent megaproject in the Chungcheong region. Once completed, it can supply 180,000 tons of water per day to the Geum River basin, including Cheongyang and Buyeo. Amicheon Dam will also be built as a multipurpose dam for both flood control and water supply. The plan is to supply 80,000 tons of water per day to the Imjin River basin, including Yeoncheon and Paju, and to respond to 100-year floods in downtown Yeoncheon.
For Byeongyeongcheon Dam, a new dam will be built downstream of the existing dam, and for Hoeya River Dam, floodgates will be installed at the existing dam to add flood control capacity (570,000 tons and 8.1 million tons, respectively). For Gohyeoncheon Dam, the existing agricultural reservoir will be raised and floodgates installed to expand flood control capacity. The flood control capacity of Gohyeoncheon Dam will increase from 400,000 tons in the original plan to 620,000 tons by improving operating methods.
For Gamcheon Dam, which will not be built, the decision was made to secure an additional 6 million tons of flood control capacity at the nearby Gimcheon Buhang Dam and carry out river maintenance in parallel. As an alternative to Garyecheon Dam, instead of raising existing reservoirs, authorities will use an underground waterway tunnel connecting the Seoam and Gami reservoirs to enhance flood control effects. As a result, the total project cost for new dams will be reduced from 4.75 trillion won to 1.67 trillion won, the ministry said.
At the briefing, the already halted Dongbokcheon Dam project in Hwasun also returned to the table. The Minister Kim said, "It is true that we reconsidered building the Dongbokcheon Dam to secure additional water for Gwangju's semiconductor fabs," but added, "Instead of building a new Dongbokcheon Dam, which would cause major ecological damage and faced strong local opposition, we decided to raise the height of the existing Dongbok Dam."
The seven sites halted last year, in addition to Dongbokcheon Dam, are the Yanggu Suipcheon Dam, the Danyang Danyangcheon Dam, the Suncheon Okcheon Dam, the Yecheon Yongducheon Dam, the Cheongdo Unmuncheon Dam, and the Samcheok Sangicheon Dam.
Minister Kim said, "The total storage capacity of the 14 dams decided by the Yoon Suk-yeol administration is only 300 million tons, which in itself is hard to see as for climate response," adding, "We will invest the saved budget in tributary and stream flood protection and in projects linking water resources facilities, and we will not rule out building additional dams if necessary."