Joy of Fulfilling Objectives
Hyundai E&C President Lee achieves three major objectives including Iraqi payment

President Lee Ji-song of Hyundai Engineering and Construction Co. came early to office at around 6:50 a.m. on December 22 and shook hands with every one of the office staff at the elevators at the company's head office located in Gye-dong, downtown Seoul. He had a particular reason to come to the office earlier than usual: The day was a special one since he assumed the top management of the construction company in 2003. On the day, he was scheduled to announce that the three objectives he promised as the new CEO of the company have been achieved. The three objectives were normalizing the company's operation, the development of the Seosan reclaimed land and the collection of construction proceeds from Iraq.
He said every one in the company has contributed to the effort and he thanked them at the gathering passing out rice cakes and beverages to some 1,300 officers and staff. The event also had double meaning for celebration, with the company booking orders over 8 trillion won worth for last year both at home and abroad.
"We are going to finish the collection of construction proceeds from Iraq, after 14 years of hard work to collect it; We will get only 20 percent of the money the country owed us, but it amounts to $680 million, more than the original amount of $640 million,"the CEO said joyfully. Hyundai E&C acted as the leader of the Iraqi Debt Council, which included such Korean construction firms as Samsung E&C, Namkwang Civil Engineering and Hanyang Construction, among others. Hyundai E&C worked hard to solicit support from various entities and its successful lobbying effort took it to every where in the world from Washington, Paris, and to London to meet with high-ranking government officials and media people to persuade them that the Korean builders had done a great service to Iraqi people by building advanced facilities including buildings and roads in the Middle East country.
President Lee had done a lot in making part of the Seosan reclaimed land to be included in the government plan to build a corporate city in August. Some 4.73 million pyeong of the land will be part of the project to build a tourism-leisure resort city in the West Coast of the country. The project faced its share of trouble from an environmental group on its way to get government approval. To appease the environmental group and get approval, Lee proposed a daring set of conditions: about 1 million pyeong of the land will be preserved as a farm land; in the case of the outbreak of a food crisis in the country, some 2.26 million pyeong of land will be switched to grow crops; all the profits from the land will be set aside to finance regional development projects; the company will manage the land for 10 years; and government-invested firms would be allowed to participate in the operation of the land.
The CEO's promise to normalize the operation of Hyundai E&C when he assumed the office has been achieved owing to oil dollars, which brought a boom in the Middle East, but mostly to the effort put on by all the employees of the company, recalled Lee. "I could see the joyful employees at the news that the company clinched orders worth 1,170 billion won on June 3, including work on a nuclear power plant, a new harbor and the Cheonggyecheon Stream reopening project that rolled in the span of just three days,"he said. He said it was quite a different scene from the gloomy situation that prevailed when he took over the company in 2003.
The CEO said he has been employing the management with warmth to boost the morale of company employees. When he was in a Middle East country, he would share drinks all night long with jobsite workers as if he is one of their family members. "We would fill a mug with soju and pass the mug well into the night, singing and dancing,"he recalled. When I got up at around 5:30 in the morning after a little sleep and went to the dining room, every worker was there. I found out there that they liked rice crust and ramen best. His motto in life has been doing his best and wait for heavenly decisions. He always tells company employees to do their best and leave the rest to God. nw

President Lee Ji-song of Hyundai Engineering and Construction Co.