The government held a "Mega Project Public-Private Joint Review Meeting" on Tuesday and decided to build the Gwangju semiconductor cluster on the site of the city's military airport. President Lee Jae-myung, who chaired the meeting, stressed that "only a speed battle matters." In that context, President Lee urged, "It has become common practice in administrative procedures to complete A, then sequentially proceed with B, C and D, but now it would be good to pursue all procedures in parallel, as long as it is not illegal." He added, "Electricity and water too, rather than waiting until other issues are resolved, should be secured preemptively." He was calling for obstacles to be resolved in advance so that corporate investment is not delayed by administrative procedures.
Although the site has been selected, water and power supply remain as tasks to be solved. In particular, resolving the water shortage problem is an urgent situation. The Yeongsan River and Seomjin River water systems in the Honam region have long been in a state of extreme water shortage, including prolonged drought. The Ministry of Environment (now the Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment) also diagnosed the Yeongsan River and Seomjin River basins as having "vulnerable water supply stability" in its river basin water resources management plan drawn up in May last year. Taking climate change scenarios into account, the climate ministry projected that the shortage of domestic and industrial water for the Yeongsan River could reach 120 million to 240 million tons per year, and the shortage of agricultural water could reach 9 million to 130 million tons per year. For the Seomjin River, water shortages of 120 million to 370 million tons and 60 million to 300 million tons per year, respectively, were forecast. If a semiconductor plant—a "water-guzzling hippo"—is added on top of this, it is self-evident that the battle over water within the region will grow even more serious.
The government must face this reality squarely and first craft a meticulous grand plan for water supply. The plan previously presented by the climate ministry alone is not enough. The climate ministry has vowed to secure more than about 1 million tons of additional water per day, of which it plans to secure 650,000 tons from surplus in existing dams including the Juam Dam. But the Juam Dam alone had a water storage rate of 22% in April 2023. Measures that rely on surplus from existing dams with such volatile flow are little more than a gamble. More dams must be built on a large scale, and existing water recycling facilities must be expanded. There is no need to belabor the importance of communication efforts to persuade environmental groups and companies operating in agricultural and industrial complexes, who will resist the construction and expansion of dams and the redistribution of water resources.
