'Anytime, Anywhere'

Under Vision 2015, GS E&C is ready to expand construction areas to SOC projects, energy plants and urban towns

"We plan to generate 50 percent of the company's sales from overseas operations by 2015,"declared President Kim Kap-yol of GS Engineering and Construction Co. at an interview with a local daily recently.
"GS E&C will go to any country for construction projects in order to grow to be among the 10 largest construction firms in the world,"he said, adding he will spend half of the year overseas directing operations.
In January, he traveled to Cambodia to call on Prime Minister Hun Sen and then made a trip to Vietnam to pave the way for the company to win more overseas construction projects.
The CEO reorganized the set up, too, by launching a task force to support experts responsible for securing overseas projects.
He also steered the company toward expanding into other kinds of construction projects, specifically in such areas as waste treatment facilities and others related to the environment business, as well as energy plant construction, such as power plants and gas storage facilities.
The company is already getting its expansion plan well underway with an oil refinery construction project that it won in Egypt last year worth some $2 billion, the largest single project that the company has ever won either at home or abroad.
The company has already clinched a couple of large projects overseas, although the new year has just begun. It won an LNG storage facility project worth $400 million in Thailand and an oil refinery project near Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, already reaching 40 percent of the year's goal for overseas construction projects.
In the power plant area, the company also won a project to build a power plant for $218 million in Armenia in October of last year.
GS E&C is going all out to undertake even large SOC projects, an urban town and dam construction projects, regardless of the profitability of the projects.
President Kim said he will see that the number of countries in which the company operates will be expanded in the future to boost its reputation and reduce risks. He said the company is more than willing to undertake large infrastructure projects such as dams and harbors in countries like Kazakhstan and Algeria.
He also said the company is looking into Cambodia for an urban town construction project near its capital Phnom Pen and highway construction projects, among others.
The plans to build a 52-story building and an upscale residential and commercial complex are afoot in Cambodia, he said. Vietnam will go ahead with its Kuzzi resort and Nyabe new town construction projects this year, he said, adding that the company is ready to bid on those projects.
At home, due to a sluggish residential home market, the company plans to give more weight to the construction of serviced residences and townhouse projects, limiting its construction of residential housing to 11,548 units, a reduction of 5,354 housing units from last year.
GS E&C announced its "Vision 2015"earlier this year under which the company will obtain project orders of 24 trillion won and annual sales of 18 trillion won by 2015 to rank the 10th largest construction company in the world (based on the standard of ENR, a popular U.S. publication for the construction industry).
When he assumed the presidency of the company in 2002, he announced "Vision 2010,"but he became more optimistic about the company's outlook, enough so to expand the blueprint for operations.
He said some people envy his ties with GS Group Chairman Hur Chang-soo, having attended the same high school and college (Korea University). But, he said, personal ties and business are different matters. nw

President Kim Kap-yol of GS Engineering and Construction Co.