9.4.09

Koreans to build Kalpsar


Gujarat’s sweet water dreams are set to get Korean sails. Kalpsar, the ambitious project of damming the Gulf of Khambhat to create a giant lake, will be built with South Korean expertise. Kalpsar will be modelled on Saemangeum, a sweet water lake in the Yellow Sea. Its size curtailed on the recommendation of the National Institute of Oceanography, the Kalpsar wall (34 km) will be almost of the same size as Saemangeum (33 km). Gujarat State Finance Corporation has already signed a memorandum of understanding with Korea Rural Community and Agriculture Cooperation (KRC), which will provide technical expertise for the Kalpsar project. As per the agreement, KRC will also help Gujarat in modernising and maintaining irrigation systems. The world’s longest manmade dyke at 33 km, Saemangeum sea wall falls on mouths of the Dongjin and Mangyeong rivers and runs between the Yellow Sea and the former Saemangeum estuary. Envisaged in 1991, the sea wall was built in April 2006, following a prolonged legal battle between the Korean government and environmental activists. The Kalpsar project was gathering dust in Gandhinagar until a visit by a Gujarat delegation, led by Chief Minister Narendra Modi, to South Korea in 2007. “A visit of the delegation to Saemangeum was a turning point,” said a senior government official. The delegation had met South Korean agriculture minister Park Hong-soo to chalk out a revival plan following which the agreement was signed.

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