By Kim Yoo-chul
Staff Reporter
Propelled by soaring orders from power plants to luxury condominiums, Hyundai Engineering & Construction is expected to post record overseas orders this year.
The country’s third-largest builder by total assets secured $3.4 billion worth of overseas orders at the end of September this year. The figure has already surpassed the company’s yearly target.
``Thanks to many orders from the Middle East to South Asia, we are very positive about hitting a new record,’’ a company spokesperson said.
Better-than-expected results are prompting the company to diversify its business strategies in a major departure from its hitherto focus on plants.
Of the total overseas orders as of September, $1.85 billion came from plant-related projects, $725 million from electric power plant projects and $45o million from building construction.
``By expanding our business coverage to petrochemicals and infrastructures, we will try to win overseas orders worth $3 billion annually,’’ the official said. It is expecting additional orders from emerging oil countries in South Africa and the former Soviet bloc including Kazakhstan.
In late September, Hyundai won a $1.36 billion contract to build two power plants in Libya where the shortage of electricity is increasingly choking the economy.
The plants will be located in the vicinity of the country’s capital city of Tripoli and the city of Al Khalij, according to the company. The project will last 52 months.
In July, the company received a $713 million order to build a power generating facility in Kuwait from Japan-based Mitsui & Co, which was carrying out a project to build a power generation plant and distillation facilities for the Kuwait’s Ministry of Energy, Electricity and Water.
Construction of the plant, which began in August, will take 28 months.
In September, the company won a contract to build 16 berths in Singapore to enable the island state to handle growing demand for container capacity. The $1.27 billion project brings together Penta Ocean Construction, Koon Construction & Transport and Van Oord Dredging & Marine contractors.
In January, Hyundai obtained a $98.8 million order from Singapore’s City Developments to build a 50-story building and a 43-story building, separately, on Singapore’s One Shenton Way office site, with construction expected to last more than three years.
``By accelerating the ongoing two-tier strategies _ portfolio diversification and strengthen ties with existing clients, overseas orders are forecasted to rise an average of more than 10 percent from 2010 annually, while total sales are expected to soar even more _ 15 percent,’’ said Lee Jong-su, CEO of the company.
``Overseas sales will take up more than 30 percent of the company’s total sales from the year.’’
Hyundai Engineering & Construction was established by the late Hyundai Group founder Chung Ju-yung in 1947.
By the 1980s, the company became one of the country’s leading builders, engaging in various business fields from the manufacturer of construction materials, electrical works to nuclear power plants.