The Ara Canal or Gyeongin Ara Waterway () is a

canal Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

linking the Han River to the

Yellow Sea The Yellow Sea, also known as the North Sea, is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean located between mainland China and the Korean Peninsula, and can be considered the northwestern part of the East China Sea. Names It is one of four ...

, bypassing the

Korean Demilitarized Zone The Korean Demilitarized Zone () is a heavily militarized strip of land running across the Korea, Korean Peninsula near the 38th parallel north. The demilitarized zone (DMZ) is a border barrier that divides the peninsula roughly in half. It wa ...

that the river's estuary lies in. It extends from the Seo-gu district in

Incheon Incheon is a city located in northwestern South Korea, bordering Seoul and Gyeonggi Province to the east. Inhabited since the Neolithic, Incheon was home to just 4,700 people when it became an international port in 1883. As of February 2020, ...

to the Gangseo-gu district in

Seoul Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...

. The canal was built to control flooding, improve shipping logistics, and provide recreational opportunities.

History

During the

Goryeo Goryeo (; ) was a Korean state founded in 918, during a time of national division called the Later Three Kingdoms period, that unified and ruled the Korea, Korean Peninsula until the establishment of Joseon in 1392. Goryeo achieved what has b ...

period, Choe I, the son of Ch'oe Ch'ung-hŏn, attempted to construct a canal close to the present-day canal site, but the project was not technologically feasible. Injong, a king in the

Joseon Joseon ( ; ; also romanized as ''Chosun''), officially Great Joseon (), was a dynastic kingdom of Korea that existed for 505 years. It was founded by Taejo of Joseon in July 1392 and replaced by the Korean Empire in October 1897. The kingdom w ...

dynasty, also unsuccessfully attempted to construct the canal. The modern "Gulpocheon River Waterproof Road" project began in 1992 and sought to address issues with irregular flows and flooding, such as a flood in the summer of 1987 which affected approximately 6,000 residents of the Incheon area. To address the issue, a project t
floodproof the river
was undertaken, starting with a five-year survey. In 1995, several scenarios for the Gulpocheon Waterproof Road project were proposed. One proposal was to dig the waterway to discharge water into the

. Another proposal was that the municipality of

Gimpo Gimpo (; ) is a Administrative divisions of South Korea, city in Gyeonggi Province, South Korea. It borders Incheon, with which it shares the South Korean side of the Han River (Korea), Han River estuary, as well as Seoul and the lesser cities o ...

would maintain a reservoir. Though the latter idea was more economical, the former was selected to boost Korea's economy. The Gyeongin Ara Canal project plan was developed, and after discussions, Hyundai Engineering & Construction was selected as the main contractor in 1995. However, construction was delayed until 2009 due to several controversies. The project was eventually completed in 2012.

Project summary

Controversies

Planning and development of the Ara Canal was controversial due to distorted cost-benefit estimations. It began in 1995, when, due to economic and environmental concerns, public opinion turned against the project. In response, eight reports were produced to demonstrate the project's validity. A

cost–benefit analysis Cost–benefit analysis (CBA), sometimes also called benefit–cost analysis, is a systematic approach to estimating the strengths and weaknesses of alternatives. It is used to determine options which provide the best approach to achieving benefits ...

of the canal by the Korea Water Resources Corporation reported a score of 2.08 in 1989, and later 2.2 in 1996. These high-benefit estimations were made under the assumption that the then-present economic boom in South Korea would continue. However, following the Korean IMF crisis in the late 1990s, the project was abandoned. After the IMF crisis passed in 2002, the Ministry of Construction and Transportation commissioned the Korea Development Institute (KDI) to report on the economic feasibility of the canal. This time, the project received scores below 1.0 (0.81, and upon reanalysis, 0.92). This indicated the project's costs outweighed its benefits. However, the Ministry rejected these two reports and demanded a third reanalysis. The KDI resubmitted the report, this time with scores near or above 1.0 (0.92–1.28), but academics suspected that the Ministry's relentless requests for reanalysis forced the KDI to inflate the score, similar to

confirmation bias Confirmation bias (also confirmatory bias, myside bias, or congeniality bias) is the tendency to search for, interpret, favor and recall information in a way that confirms or supports one's prior beliefs or Value (ethics and social sciences), val ...

. In August 2004, the Ministry commissioned an independent report from Dehabe, a Dutch canal consulting company, and received a cost-benefit score of 1.76 in March 2007. In 2008, the KDI re-verified Dehabe's report with a score of 1.06. The report predicted the goods transported in 2011 would be 294,000 TEU of containers, 6.3 million tons of sea sand, 500,000 tons of steel, and 600,000 passengers. However, it was speculated that these estimations of the canal's benefits were inflated, making the project seem more cost-effective. As evidence, the KDI's cost-analysis excluded an already-constructed spillway, claiming it was part of a different project. An opposition member of the National Assembly observed that if this was true, the spillway would have been constructed at half the size, and suggested that the analysis had been purposefully misleading in order to drive business. A year after the canal opened, the volume of goods transported via the canal was just over 5% of this estimated demand. Controversy again resurfaced in the summer of 2010, when heavy rain caused extensive damage near the Ara Canal. Environmental groups insisted that the canal did not have the intended effect on

flood prevention Flood management or flood control are methods used to reduce or prevent the detrimental effects of flood waters. Flooding can be caused by a mix of both natural processes, such as extreme weather upstream, and human changes to waterbodies and ru ...

. These groups also argued that the canal had no plan to build preventative infrastructure—such as rainwater pumping stations, backflow prevention facilities, and rainwater pipes—and demanded that the project be reexamined. The Korea Water Resource Corporation responded that there would have been greater damage if the Ara Canal did not exist and argued that the damage was instead caused by insufficient sewage pipe capacity. Furthermore, they suggested that the canal helped prevent greater damage by discharging rainwater into the Yellow Sea, thereby preventing floods. As a result, they argued that installing the requested infrastructure was not necessary.

Usage

Eight Views of Suhyang

There are Eight Views of Suhyang from the Ara Canal. These include "The Yellow Sea", "Ara Incheon Passenger Terminal", "Sicheon Riverside", "Ara Waterfall", "Suhyangwon", "Duri Eco Park", "Ara Gimpo Passenger Terminal", and "Ara Hangang Waterside".

Recreation

Next to the Ara Canal is a 41.3 km bicycle path. There are five bicycle rental shops along the Ara Canal, including in the Ara Incheon passenger terminal, by the southern Sicheon bridge, the northern Gyeyang bridge, the southern Gyeyang bridge, and within the Ara Gimpo passenger terminal. Marina port

There are three marine facilities in the Ara Marina region. The yacht mooring facility accommodates 199 ships (water: 136, dry-dock: 58). The marina support facility contains a ship gas station, ship repair shop, crane, inclined plane, washing room, and sewage disposal. The Ara Marine Center also contains a convention center, wedding hall, and restaurant. The Gimpo Mayor Yacht contest is held annually in late May.

Cultural life

The Gyeongin Ara Culture Festival is a nine-day festival first held in October 2013. The festival's program has changed every year, with programs divided by region. A shopping mall opened in the area in February 2015. It is the largest shopping mall in the Ara Canal region.

Notes

{{authority control Canals in South Korea Canals opened in 2012 Water transport in South Korea Buildings and structures in Gangseo District, Seoul 2012 establishments in South Korea