Finalizes tour on integrated water management in Korea

Daejeon, Korean Republic, 12th of June, 2017.-The Water Infrastructure Knowledge Management Program, organized by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport of the Republic of Korea (MoLIT), through its K-water entity, in which a delegation from the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI) participated, has finalized.

In addition to MoLIT and K-Water, representatives of the Korea Appraisal Board as well as officials from various governmental entities of the Republics of Guatemala, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Costa Rica and Honduras participated actively in the study tour. It took place between June 5th and 9th in several locations in the Republic of Korea.

The program included business meetings with Korean entities, presentations on the water sector master plan of the Republic of Korea and visits to various integrated water management related flagship projects to in that country. In this context, the following projects were visited: the Daecheong multipurpose dam, the Baekje flood control facility, the Sihwa tidal power generation plant, the Water Analysis Center and the Water Resources Management Center owned by K-Water in Daejeon. In addition, the Korean concept of Smart City was introduced, which includes the central perspective of the human being and puts all the technology at its service.

Each of the Central American countries presented water infrastructure projects to both the Government of the Republic of Korea and to industry experts, with the objective of promoting the development of interventions that can be financed in collaboration between CABEI and Korean organizations.

Among the results of the program, the knowledge acquired by the officials regarding the socio-environmental and multipurpose sustainability of the visited projects stands out. For example, some multifunction dams have been visited, including power generation, risk management and income generation by tourism, in addition to the necessary continuous supply of water for industrial, agricultural and human consumption. Likewise, the ingenious solution of the Sihwa tidal power generation plant, which makes it possible to generate renewable energy from tidal changes, is considered an example that could be replicated in Central America.

Also, progress was made regarding the possibility of establishing a knowledge and experiences exchange center for public officials of governmental entities of the Central American countries, through training programs to be held in Spanish, possibly in the city of San Salvador.

CABEI and MoLIT have carried out several joint activities and have maintained an alliance since January 2017, when the first cooperation agreement between the two institutions was signed in the Asian country. This program demonstrates the mutual interest in fostering the exchange of knowledge and commercial relations between the Republic of Korea and the Central American region, and efforts will be made to carry it out for officials from other sectors over the next few years.