3.8 Trillion KRW GTX-B Private Sector Section, Daewoo Construction Consortium Virtually Confirmed

Designated as Preferred Negotiation Partner in Mid-January Next Year
Plan to Start Construction in First Half of 2024 After Detailed Design

Metropolitan Area Express Railway (GTX)-B Line Map. [Source=Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport]

[Asia Economy Reporter Cha Wanyong] The Daewoo Engineering & Construction consortium has been virtually confirmed as the project operator for the metropolitan area wide express railroad (GTX)-B line.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced that the Daewoo Engineering & Construction consortium was the sole bidder after the submission deadline for the GTX-B line private sector section project application was closed on the 19th.

Accordingly, the Ministry of Land decided to conduct an evaluation to designate the negotiation candidate without additional public notice. If there are no disqualifications for the Daewoo Engineering & Construction consortium, it will be designated as the preferred negotiation candidate by mid-January next year.

The GTX-B line is a project to establish a line crossing the metropolitan area east to west from Incheon Incheon National University Station to Gyeonggi Namyangju Maseok, allowing transfers at major stations such as Seoul Station and Cheongnyangni Station.

Among the entire route, the Seoul Yongsan Station to Sangbong Station section will be a publicly funded project, while the remaining sections will be promoted as private projects. The goal is to start construction in 2024 and open in 2030.

The Ministry of Land estimated the scale of the GTX-B line private project at 3.8421 trillion KRW as of 2020. The project operator will have the operating rights for the private section for 40 years.

The Daewoo Engineering & Construction consortium includes leading domestic construction companies, engineering firms, and financial institutions. Daewoo Engineering & Construction is the representative company, and POSCO Engineering & Construction, Hyundai Engineering & Construction, DL E&C, Lotte Engineering & Construction, Kumho Engineering & Construction, Dongbu Engineering & Construction, KCC Engineering & Construction, Hoban Industry, and Namkwang Construction participate as construction investors (CI).

Engineering firms include Dohwa Engineering, Yushin, Taejo Engineering, and Sambo Technology Group. Financial investors (FI) are Shinhan Bank and Hana Securities, among others.

Ahn Jaehyuk, head of the Metropolitan Area Wide Express Railroad Division at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, said, “The evaluation will be conducted objectively and fairly. If the current applicant passes the final evaluation, it will be designated as the negotiation candidate, and negotiations and detailed design will proceed as planned to start construction in the first half of 2024.”

Meanwhile, the publicly funded section of the GTX-B line, which has not yet selected a project operator due to repeated failures, is now selecting an operator through separate design and construction bidding.

The Korea Rail Network Authority plans to receive comprehensive technical proposals from the top five construction engineering firms by contract performance (Seohyun Technology Group, Yushin, KRTC, Dongmyung Technology Group, Suseong Engineering, etc.) on the 22nd, conduct a technical evaluation, and select the project operator on January 6 next year.

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