By Jane Han
Staff Reporter
Hyundai Engineering & Construction became the country's first builder to reach $60 billion in cumulative overseas orders, a record set since it first set foot abroad four decades ago.
South Korea's third-largest builder set the milestone after winning its latest deal worth $2.07 billion to build a desalination and electric power plant in northeastern Qatar.
Hyundai's overseas businesses take up about 23 percent of the domestic construction industry's overall global sales of $2.7 trillion. The builder won most of its orders, from the Middle East ($32 billion), Asia ($21.5 billion), Africa ($5.1 billion), Europe and the Americas ($1.8 billion) respectively.
Hyundai's first construction away from home was in 1965, when it paved an expressway in Thailand. Soon after, they entered the lucrative Middle East market, and played a pivotal role in sending off Korean laborers to the desert region to work on major construction projects through the 1970s and 1980s.
The most recent plant-building contract was subcontracted to Hyundai by lead contractor Mitsui & Co., Japan's second-largest trading company, which won the order from state-run Qatar Electricity & Water Corp, Hyundai E&C said in a statement.
Hyundai E&C predicted it will sign a formal deal with the Japanese company by the end of this month.
The plant will be built by 2011 in Ras Laffan Industrial City, 80 kilometers north of Doha, the capital of Qatar, the South Korean builder said.
If completed, the plant will have a generating capacity of 2,728 megawatts and a fresh-water production capacity of 25,000 tons a day, Hyundai Engineering & Construction said.