Top 10 Projects for Korean Builders

Their monumental work at home and overseas spotlight technologies, expanse of work

The Construction Association of Korea conducted a survey to select the 10 best construction projects past and present built by Korean builders at home and overseas on some 1,000 respondents in the construction industry, the Ministry of Construction and Transportation and construction related experts in the country during March-May on the occasion of the construction industry's 60th anniversary on June 20. Following are the list of the 10 best construction work(SOC) at home in the order of selection.
1. The Seoul-Busan Highway: The four- lane expressway 417 km long built during February, 1968 and July 1970
2. The Seoul-Busan High-speed Railroad: The first stage of the 418.7 km long high-speed railway opened in April 2004 with a total length of 309.8 km. The train moves at the maximum speed of 350 km per hour.
3. Incheon International Airport: The airport opened in March, 2001, at the cost of 7.8 trillion won with the completion of its first-stage work kicked-off in 1992. It handles 27 million passengers per year and 1.7 million tons of cargo.
4. The West Coast Highway and the Seohae Grand Bridge: The second longest highway(355.1 km) in the country next to the Seoul-Busan Expressway, connecting Seoul with Mokpo, South Jeolla Province, opened in December, 2001 with work launched in December, 1990. The Seohae Grand Bridge opened in November, 2000 at the cost of 677.7 billion won.
5. The Restored Cheonggye Stream: The stream, 5.8 km long, dissecting the northern Seoul was restored and opened to public in Oct. 1, 2005, at the cost of 360 billion won.
6. Saemankeum Reclaimed Land: The breakwater 33 km long connecting Gunsan and Buan, North Jeolla Province, trapping sea water areas some 40,100 sq. km in size and it will create 28,300 ha of reclaimed land when the reclamation project is completed in 2011.
7. Pohang Iron and Steel Co.: The first-stage of the nation's first blast furnace steel mill was completed in 1973 producing 1.03 million tons of crude steel annually. In February, 1981, the steel plant was expanded to turn out 8.5 million tons of steel annually.
8. Soyang River Multi-Purpose Dam: Opened in October, 1973, the dam is 123 meters high and 530 meters long, holding 2.9 billion tons of water and generating 200,000 kw of electricity.
9. Yeongjong Grand Bridge: It links Incheon and Yeongjong Island, 4.4 km long and 35 meters wide built at the cost of 813 billion won and opened in November, 2000.
10.Gwangan Boulevard: It actually is a bridge over sea built for automobiles stretching for 7.42 km connecting Busan and Gwangan on the way to Haeundae Beach.
Following are 10 best projects undertaken by Korean builders overseas:
1. The Great Man-made River in Libya: The project completed in August, 1996 from January, 1984, kicked-off by Dong Ah Construction at the cost of $3.4 billion. It is sometimes called the Greatest Project ever undertaken by mankind in the 20th century or 'the 8th Wonder of the World.'Over 1 million workers were mobilized during over a decade long project.
2. Burj Dubai: It will be the tallest building in the world when completed in 2009 some 800 meters high with 170 stories being built by Samsung Trading's construction division. The structure will have 150,000 pyeong in total space.
3. Jubail Industrial Harbor in Saudi Arabia: A huge harbor to facilitate the oil field located in eastern Saudi Arabia was built by Hyundai Construction at the cost of $960 million, the largest project up until then in the world completed in December, 1980.
4. The Penang Grand Bridge in Malaysia: Hyundai Construction built the bridge in 1981 with a total length of 7,958 m and 19.5 m wide with four lanes, the longest in Asia and the third longest in the world then.
5. Petronas Tower in Malaysia: The Twin Tower building, the highest in the world until Taipei 101 building with 101 stories and 509 meters tall was built. The structures were built by a consortium of Hajama Construction of Japan and Samsung Trading's construction division and Kukdong Construction.
6. South Pars Gas Field in Iran: the Nos. 4 & 5 stages of the gas field in Iran were completed in June, 2005 at the cost of $1.5 billion considered the super-sized gas treatment facilities.
7. Patani-Narathiwat Highway in Thailand:
This was the first overseas project that Korean builders undertook in December, 1965, which was completed in 26 months at the cost of $1.479 billion, but the cost overran the original estimate to $1.767 billion, bringing loss to the builders.
8. Fujaira Desalination Plant in the UAE: The plant built by Doosan Heavy Industries can desalinate 450,000 tons of sea water a day and supply drinking water to 1.5 million people, about 26.5 percent of soft water used in the Arabic country a day, The plant cost $800 million to build and completed in 2003.
9. Suntec City in Singapore: It was a large project costing $1 billion with orders coming in 5 packages. Hyundai Construction took charge of package 3A and the company worked with Ssangyong on packages 3B and 4.
10. King Fahd Airport in Saudi Arabia: Daelim Industry took care of the project involving the construction of runways and approach strips, in addition to support facilities. The company started the work from 1985 and completed it in May, 1990. nw