Huge Role in Korea's Growth

President Roh calls construction industry bedrock of the economy, to play continuous, strong role

The Korea Federation of Construction Industry Societies(Chairman Kwon Hong-sa) has staged "Korea Construction Festival 2007"June 20-23 in observance of the 60th Construction Day at the Coex Center in southern Seoul with the support of the Ministry of Construction and Transportation.
Participating in the big event for the construction industry included President Roh Moo-hyun, Construction and Transportation Minister Lee Yong-sup, Rep. Cho Il-hyun, chairman of the Construction and Transportation Committee of the National Assembly and heads of major construction firms in the country and key related organizations with the festive event tracing back the history of the construction industry and put spotlight on what lies ahead down the road. The event also coincided with the 60th 'Construction Day'on June 20.
President Roh said the construction industry has been a core industry for the country taking up 15.4
percent of GDP and 7.9 percent of employment and its been actively engaged in overseas construction projects with orders totaling $16.5 billion last year, boosting the reputation of Korea in its wake. He said he had seen Korean workers engaged in such mammoth projects as Burj Dubai, the world's tallest building when completed and other projects all over the world, which was truly heart-warming and made him immensely proud.
The chief executive said the government will invest 56 trillion won in building infrastructure in the country by 2012 and including private
investments the projects will attract, total investment would come to some 101 trillion won during the period. He hopes that the investment will spur the growth of the construction industry and the economy overall.
CAK Chairman Kwon, in his speech at the ceremony, said Korea's construction industry is traced back to 1947 for its beginning and the industry has done a lot to build the country from the rubbles of the Korean War.
He said the industry cannot rest on its laurels, but continue to shed sweats to move ahead with improved management, transparent and diversified to cope with changing world construction market. Abroad, the industry is being confronted with various challenges with competition growing intense and borderless.
In 1970, the number of construction firms totaled 848, but it expanded to 53,000 last year, along with a whopping increase in the contract amount going from 183 billion won to 110 trillion won last year,sharing 8.4 percent of GDP and employing 8 percent of total employment.
But he said the industry should be reborn as a competitive industry with sustainable growth capacities by pooling the efforts of every one involved with the industry. The CAK chairman stressed that it is the only way for the industry to remain as a nucleus industry in the country in the next four decades, not left behind as a declining industry included on the list of 3D industries.
Chairman Kwon Hong-sa said the event was a festive space designed to show Korea's construction industry'history and
its future so that it would be a successful construction festival and creative one.
Booths at the exhibition event included one for showing the past 6 decades of the construction industry, one for its future and one for showing balanced development of national land.It also had a booth for children for them to have a chance to experience what construction is all about, along with a booth to display selective architectural designs drawn by college students to make the event more appealing to viewers.




Participants included Korea Housing Corp., the Incheon Int'l Airport Corp., Korea Expressway Corp., Korea Water Resources Corp., the Korean Railroad Corp., Daewoo Engineering and Construction Co., SK Engineering and Construction Co., and Korea Housing Guarantee Corp., among others. nw

(photos clockwise) President Roh Moo-hyun delivers a congratulatory speech at the ceremony for the 60th Construction Day at the Coex Center in Seoul June 20.
A scene from the performance event at the Construction Day ceremony.
President Roh, 2nd R, walks toward the exhibition hall at the Coex Center accompanied by Chairman Kwon Hong-sa of the Construction Association of Korea to his left and Minister Lee Yong-sup of the Construction and Transportation Ministry to his right.

(photos left) The booth at the Construction Day exhibition belong to the Korea Land Corp.
(right) The booth of Korea Expressway Corp. at the Construction Day exhibition at the Coex Center in Seoul.