SK Ecoplant Commences Construction of Norway's Largest Infrastructure Project Worth 2.2 Trillion KRW

Sotra Expressway Project Rendering.

Signing of Financial Agreement for Norway Sotra Expressway Project

Achievement of Raising 1 Trillion KRW in Financing Within 6 Months After Being Selected as Preferred Negotiation Partner

First Domestic Company to Enter Nordic PPP Market

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Min-young] SK Ecoplant's public-private partnership (PPP) infrastructure project underway in Norway, Northern Europe, is set to commence construction within this year.

SK Ecoplant announced on the 24th that it recently signed a financial agreement and implementation contract with the Norwegian government for the "Route 555 Sotra Expressway Project," valued at approximately 2.2 trillion KRW.

This financial agreement was achieved within six months after being selected as the preferred negotiation partner in September last year. SK Ecoplant secured project financing (PF) of about 860 million USD (approximately 1 trillion KRW) in total private investment. Nine domestic and international financial institutions participated as lenders, including the Export-Import Bank of Korea, Korea Trade Insurance Corporation, KDB Industrial Bank, Spain's CaixaBank, Germany's KfW Development Bank, France's Cr?dit Agricole, and Bank of China.

The Export-Import Bank of Korea supported local currency financing through loans and guarantees, while Korea Trade Insurance Corporation and KDB Industrial Bank also contributed as part of the lending consortium. Korea Trade Insurance Corporation and the Export-Import Bank of Korea provided approximately 530 billion KRW in financing for this project.

The company also announced the signing of the implementation contract. With this, SK Ecoplant, having first entered Western Europe's infrastructure PPP market by winning the UK Silvertown Tunnel project in 2019, is now the first domestic company to enter the Nordic region as well.

Public-private partnership (PPP) projects go beyond the traditional EPC contract method by enabling revenue generation through financing and equity participation. Additionally, since a pre-qualification (PQ) process evaluates past project experience and design capabilities before the main bidding, the risk of low-price bidding is reduced.

An SK Ecoplant official emphasized, "This is a case where our capabilities, proven through the successful development, financing, and completion of mega infrastructure PPP projects such as the Turkey Eurasia Undersea Tunnel and ?anakkale Bridge, have been recognized once again by a European advanced government."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.