Daewoo E&C sees huge potential in water maintenance projects

An artist’s rendering of the El Harrach river in Algeria that Daewoo E&C is refurbishing. / Courtesy of Daewoo E&C

By Park Jin-hai

The Oued El Harrach River in Algeria was infamous for a smelling like a sewer three years ago that, in part, led to its being named the fourth-most polluted river in the world.

Now the dead river has been turned into a place where people enjoy walking on its grassy banks.

The change could not have happened were it not for Daewoo Engineering & Construction (E&C), which won a water maintenance project in 2012 to clean up the 18 kilometer river basin in the North African nation.

Thanks to that, the leading Korean builder has expanded its water maintenance business as its next growth engine in Africa.

Through the ongoing water maintenance project, the company has been cleaning up the river and building a riverside soccer stadium and outdoor swimming pool due for completion by 2019.

“Although it was our first overseas water maintenance project, we won it based on mutual trust built up over the past 20 years,” said a company official.

Since it entered the Algerian market in 1989 building the Hilton Alger, the company has carried out various projects. The accumulated orders it bagged in that nation alone hit $4.4 billion as of last month.

“At the time we were building the hotel, French companies on other projects retreated to their country due to the unrest there. However, we stayed there and finished the project on time. The hotel is 20 years old now and has been praised by many as one of the most robust buildings,” added the official.

Thanks to the successful turnaround of the Oued El Harrach River, Daewoo E&C in November clinched another water maintenance project in the country.

The $192 million project is to clean up the 11.72 kilometer banks and low water channels along the Rhumel River and Oued Bou Merzoug, while building riverbank parks, walking trails and bike paths.

“Those construction projects in particular have been meaningful, since they are the outcome of joint cooperation between the Korean government and us to win the overseas construction project,” said the official.

Under a 2010 Ministry of the Environment program to support bidding in the overseas environmental market, the ministry held meetings with its Algerian counterparts and launched a technological cooperation committee. After a bilateral agreement on a master plan to revive the Oued El Harrach River was signed by the two governments, Daewoo E&C was designated as the project partner.

“Because of Korea’s experience and technology to revive its polluted rivers, we chose the Korean government as our partner,” an Algerian official was quoted as saying at that time.

Daewoo E&C, meanwhile, boasts the biggest sales record in the environmental sector in Korea, having completed the construction of 92 environmental facilities.

“After the first project’s success, we found ourselves with more opportunities on our hands. We think our environmental business could be significantly boosted,” the official said.