Ara Canal

The Ara Canal or Gyeongin Ara Waterway (Korean: ) is a canal in South Korea linking the Han River to the Yellow Sea, bypassing the Korean Demilitarized Zone that the river's estuary lies in. It extends from the Geomdan-gu district in Incheon to the Gangseo-gu district in Seoul. The canal was built to control flooding, improve shipping logistics, and provide recreational opportunities.

During the Goryeo 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 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 to 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 Yellow Sea. Another proposal was that the municipality of Gimpo 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.

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 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 Kor

Canal data from Wikidata (CC0). Summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).