It was first announced as part of the "Green New Deal" policy launched in January 2009, and was later included in the government's five-year national plan in July 2009.
The government also stated its objective to improve the rivers' water quality, by managing pollutants such as the increase of Biochemical oxygen demand and total phosphorus counts that can result in the waterways' eutrophication.
The Four Major Rivers Restoration Project is to contribute to recovering the real economy from the recession through job creation and local economic revitalization.
[1] Direct interventions to restore rivers also included the construction of multi-purpose dams and heightening of banks for 96 existing agricultural reservoirs.
[1] With the goal of maximizing the tourism benefits of the restoration project, the river banks and adjacent areas were also enhanced with bike lanes, green transportation network, and leisure facilities.
And Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs can be able to secure river maintenance water and strengthen flood control capacity even during droughts by building small sized multipurpose dams and expanding existing agricultural reservoirs.
Flood damage and recovery expenses will decrease by dredging sediment, and the down-streams will be protected by retention and riverside reservoirs.
The benefits reaped from the project on the four major rivers areas which account for 70 percent of our territory will contribute to regional development.
Overall, it is expected that the project will create 340,000 jobs and generate an estimated 40 trillion won (US$31.1 billion) of positive economic effects.
In 2012, international bike race "Tour de Korea 2012" was held, and it contributed in promoting the project's aspects of green growth and nation brand.
[5] The earliest criticism to the Four Major Rivers Project was political in nature and, specifically, lodged by those who were more generally opposed to the South Korean President, Lee Myung-bak's administration.
When the Four Major Rivers Project was announced in early 2009, critics suspected that it was a mere name-change for the Grand Korean Waterway.
[11] Opposition also claims that on top of the transformation into stepped lakes, the 4 Rivers Project is also suspected to be a backdoor operation towards President Lee's goal of constructing the Grand Korean Waterway, a canal from Seoul to Busan, by the end of his term in 2012.
An example was the administration's holding a preliminary conference for constructing an ecological park on the Geum River almost a year after the study was completed.
[16][17] New water clarity goals allow for much higher pollution levels than currently exist, especially around areas of Paldang organic farming operations.
[21] Dredging was feared to increase water flow velocity and erosion in upper streams and flooding in their lower reaches.
Eventually, a group of Paldang farmers, academics, and activists won a second long-fought court battle to use the grounds as an organic farming and ecology education center, the only such successful case on record against the South Korean administrative branch regarding this project.
[27][28] Fluvial geomorphologist, Matt Kondolf of University of California, Berkeley, criticized this project as an "obsolete" way of restoring rivers.
[33] South Korean painter, Kang Haeng-weon (강행원), released to the public his three paintings that depict the hope of restoring the developed four rivers back to their natural state.
[36] South Korean Christian pastor and environmentalist, Choi Byeong-seong (최병성), wrote a book The Republic of Korea Is Crumbling (대한민국이 무너지고 있다) that discusses the "purposeless" goals of the project.
[40][41] Democratic Party politician Kim Jae-gyun (김재균) criticized that the government and other regional political groups illegally extorted 1 billion Korean won for the project.
[44] South Korean philosopher, Do-ol had voiced his opinion in the online talk show Naneun Ggomsuda on October 29, 2011, by saying "The whole land is dug up.
[47] The People's Institute of Economical & Social Studies (시민경제사회연구소) has predicted that 4900 billion Korean won would be needed every year to maintain the weirs and surrounding facilities.
[49] This is due to the fact that President Lee Myung-bak himself has deeper connections and business-friendly attitudes to big private construction businesses.
[56] The official completion ceremony of the Four Major Rivers Project is later postponed to March 2012 as declared on November 29, 2011, due to "safety reasons"; this is alleged to be the Grand National Party's promotional strategy for the river project right before the 2012 presidential election in order to avoid the anti-KORUS Free Trade Agreement crowds (Democratic Party members, farmers, citizen groups).
However, there are some small examples, confirming the results of audit on January 21, 2011, and requested or dispose of 20 items in total, including 29 cases.
In June 2012, the Fair Trade Commission announced the results of bidding for the four-river rescue project, but it was delayed arbitrarily, and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport refused to accept it.