By Lee Hyo-sik
Staff Reporter
Korea will seek to win overseas construction projects worth over $70 billion each year from 2012, with the goal of joining the league of the world's top 10 builders, the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs said Friday.
To do so, it plans to promote a comprehensive infrastructure development package among local builders and set up a 2-trillion won fund by 2012 to finance a range of construction schemes in foreign countries.
At a meeting of economy-related ministers held at the Gwachon Government Complex, the ministry unveiled these and other measures to help domestic firms win construction orders abroad and turn the sector into one of Korea's growth engines.
The government plans to boost this year's construction orders to $60 billion by helping local builders explore new markets and advance into higher-value added business fields.
The nation's overseas construction contracts will be pushed up to $65 billion in 2011 and to $70 billion in 2012, capturing 5 percent of the world's market and becoming one of the global top 10 builders. Last year, construction firms here won projects worth $49.1 billion, the highest ever.
Companies have so far concentrated on Middle Eastern and Asian countries, and built mostly refineries and other basic industrial and social infrastructures.
But they will be encouraged to make inroads into Africa and other newly developing regions, as well as seek to secure the order of nuclear power plants and other lucrative projects.
High-valued industrial plants, urban development and high-speed railway construction are on the top of the government's target list.
Currently, the state-run Korail and railway-related private firms are making an all-out effort to win a bullet train construction project in Brazil worth about $20 billion in June. A local consortium is also vying to secure a 5-trillion won metro train construction scheme in Libya in March.
Following the UAE's $20-billion nuclear power plant deal won by the consortium of Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO), Hyundai Engineering and Construction, Samsung C&T Corp and Doosan Heavy Industries, the government will make further efforts to secure more orders in the Middle East and other parts of the world.
It also plans to strengthen ties with African nations to help local builders win a comprehensive infrastructure development program there. In December, STX Group acquired a $10 billion order from the Ghanaian government to build 200,000 homes in the African country over the next six years.
To support local businesses in financing large-scale overseas construction projects, the government will set up a 2-trillion won ``global infrastructure fund'' by 2012, while urging the Export-Import Bank of Korea and other state-run lenders to extend more credit on favorable terms.
Diplomats and other public officials will be dispatched not only to the Middle East and Asia, but also to Africa and South America in which many say social and industrial infrastructure development is about to enter a boom period.
Additionally, the government will train about 2,000 workers to specialize in the design and construction of various industrial plants every year.