HDEC Versed in Restoring
Cheongyecheon Stream
- A leading contractor pledges to make it on time with a pride


As far as the Cheonggyecheon Stream now undergoing restoration is concerned, the Hyundai Engineering and Construction Co. (HDEC) may know almost an A to Z of the birth of the stream and its development.
HDEC was discharged with 100 projects related to the construction of the now-defunct Cheonggye Elevated Road built between 1967 and 1976 over the stream. The company had been in charge of making repairs of the road during the period between 1995 and the recent time. Now Hyundai is working on the third section of a monumental project to restore the stream.
"I have in my mind a picture of what should it look like even when my company landed the project and work on its design. The project goes without a hitch according to the scenario," Son Moon-young, HDEC's project director of the Gyeonggyecheon Restoration Project Section 3.
Son said his team members - 25 HDEC and 15 contract hands - work their fingers to the bone in doing the worthwhile job. They toil away their work three times their average without holidays, but with a pride.
The project involves restoration of an 1.8-km-long section between Cheonggyecheon 8-ga and Shindap Railroad Bridge. It calls for restoring five bridges over the Cheonggyecheon Stream as well as eight bridges, including the ones in Jeonnung-cheon and Seongbuk-cheon streams - six for vehicular traffic and two for pedestrians' use - plus three submerged bridges over riverside areas. The work on restoring the Cheonggyecheon Stream is 90 percent complete, and the one on the Jeonnung-cheon and Seongbuk-cheon streams is standing at a lower completion rate of some 70 due to the delayed ground-breaking, but not a major problem is not in sight, he said. HDEC and Kolon Engineering and Construction Co. jointly undertake the section at a ratio of 85 percent and 15 percent.
"Normally, civil engineering works, unlike other large-scale projects, tend not to make much money, but they save costs and make profits only when workers are getting the knack of carrying out the same process repeatedly". Things are different in this project as workers spend half of their time to prepare for different processes, which require large amounts of raw materials. His company workers have their hands full in handling with the project considered to be cost-intensive and less profitable.
His team did not suffer any difficulty as it comes to construction methods and technology, but the thorniest thing they had to face was to grapple with water. Whenever it rained, the water level of the Cheonggyecheon Stream would soar, delaying the construction process during the summer season.
"The process of setting up structures is almost over, and now focus is on such works related to low-lying waterway facilities, pavement of riverside plots and transplant of trees, and railing, and we have to get them done by the end of May, and we are ready to correct the weak points when water flow along the renovate stream during the monsoon season. We can make it on the target day in October after making finishing touches on the work of planting trees and plants."
Son said he put top priority on maintaining quality control, particularly concerning concrete curing he terms as an area that could influence his company's image.
The director said his team is credited with ensuring industrial safety, saying that it was presented with a plague of appreciation in recognition of ensuring industrial safety from the Korea Occupational Safety & Health Agency. HDEC is incomparable in terms of process management, and the site is under stern scrutiny from the Seoul Metropolitan Government. The site is designed as a model environment-friendly work by the Seongdong Ward Office, while it has got higher marks in terms of labor management as his cooperative subcontract companies are highly experienced and excellent.
The project appears to have impressed Japanese. Director Son said Japanese visitors are surprised to hear that the mammoth Cheonggye Elevated Road that had once covered the Cheonggyecheon Stream torn down just in a month, something that they dub is put on the Guiness Book of World Records. The section 3 has already become part of observation tours for Japanese, particularly from Japanese construction companies. To name a few, they include Dr. Fuminori Tomosawa, of Engineering Department at Nihon University and delegations from Shinz, Obayashi and Ur. A steam of Korean observation teams across the nation is coming to the site to see the developments of the monumental undertaking. Delegations from Gwacheon City and North Gyeongsang Province toured the site.
The restoration project has an adverse effect on vehicular traffic, but it brings socioeconomic effects of improving Seoulites' living standards and leaves behind an inheritance to the descendants.
Director Son describes himself as a workaholic who loves to work. "I'm excited to see features changing each day, even though I feel sorry for my family," he quipped. He recalled that he and his family stayed in Canada and spent a fantastic time together to watch the developments of a project to build the Cable Bridge, a suspension bridge in Vancouver.
As far as his work is concerned, he said, he loves to challenge against the nature and overcome it and put civilized additions to the nature. He has never thought his construction mission is impossible, however, and he always considers it a matter of time and money.
He confides that his men are afraid of his precise scrutiny into the details according to the process schedule. He makes a point of saying to his junior officials that they and their company could soup up their capabilities by managing to cope with harsh conditions and warns that if they are not trying to shake off their stereotyped attitude, they would lose in a race of competition. "The guys complaining about something on the spot are lazy ones, and persons having their hands full have no time to complain. That's something, a kind of Hyundai's asset," Son noted.
A class of Reserve Officers' Training Corps and a graduate of Dongguk University Business Administration Department, Son has been with HDEC for about 30 years. He spent nine years overseas by taking charge of such large-scale projects as the construction of the Penang Bridge in Malaysia. He was involved in such domestic projects as the recent reconstruction and expansion of the Seongsu Bridge, a work on inter-Korean railway link, Samryangjin Pumped Storage Power Plant and the Honam (Seoul-Mokpo) Expressway. nw