The existing Namgang dam is located 8 km west of Chinju City and was constructed in 1969 on the Nam river, a brach of the Nakdong river.

This new project aims at reducing the frequent flood damages due to the too small flood control capacity of the existing dam. The newly planned dam is a concrete faced rockfill type. It has the height of 34 meters (8 meters higher than the existing one), the length of 1,126 meters, and has the storage capacity of 309 million ton.

This project will have the flood control capacity of 270 million ton which can significantly reduce the flood damages in the downstream areas by regulating floods and diverting them to the Sach'on Bay through 12 spillway gates.

This will also generate hydropower energy of 41.3 GWh per year from the power plant with the installing capacity of 14,000 kW. This project was initiated in November, 1989 and is to be completed in December, 1996.