ULSAN — A long-sought plan to install floodgates at Hoeya Dam has been formally selected as one of the government's new dam projects, securing 85.5 billion won ($62 million) in state funding to strengthen flood control against extreme rainfall and sharply reduce inundation risks downstream.
The Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment announced the final list of project sites, including Hoeya Dam, on the 27th after reviewing seven candidate locations unveiled last September, according to the Ulsan Waterworks Headquarters.
The project centers on installing five floodgates, each 20 meters wide and 7.3 meters high, on the existing spillway at Hoeya Dam. Once completed, the gates will add 8.1 million tons of flood control capacity and cut peak flood flows into downstream urban areas by about 20% during heavy rainfall. Estimated costs total 95 billion won, comprising 85.5 billion won from the central government and 9.5 billion won from the city.
Rather than raising the height of the dam body, the plan adds gates to the existing spillway. As a result, residents face no expansion of regulated areas such as water-source protection zones and no widening of downstream flood zones. The design raises flood defense capacity without additional environmental constraints.
With the project confirmed, Ulsan plans to accelerate administrative procedures to shorten the construction timeline. Citing cases of extreme rainfall damage nationwide, the city will press the central government to exempt the project from a preliminary feasibility study, stressing the urgency of disaster prevention. It then plans to move quickly into basic and detailed design after a feasibility study and the establishment of a basic dam construction plan.
Ulsan's sustained lobbying of the central government proved decisive in the selection. Ulsan Mayor Kim Sang-wook attended a presidential meeting on responses to heat waves and drought on the 6th of this month, where the mayor argued the case for the floodgates and their urgency before officials from the Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment and Korea Water Resources Corporation. The city built its case on conditions at the site, where a severe drought had pushed Hoeya Dam's storage rate down to the low 20% range, putting drinking water supplies on emergency footing.
"Because this project is directly tied to citizens' safety, we will work closely with central ministries and the National Assembly so that construction can begin as soon as possible, including through a feasibility study exemption," an official at the Ulsan Waterworks Headquarters said.
