Daewoo Engineering & Construction (Daewoo E&C), a major Korean builder, announced on Feb. 11 that it has won a project worth US$480 million (577.2 billion won) to build a bridge across the Ganges River in India, receiving the first order in 2016. This is the first major construction deal Daewoo E&C has secured in India after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Korea in May last year and upgraded the two countries’ relationship as “special strategic partnership.”
The project, commissioned by the Bihar State Road Development Corp. Ltd., a state-run enterprise within the State of Bihar in the northeast, is designed to link Bidupur and Kacchi Dargah about 20 kilometers east of Bihar's state capital Patna.
Under the contract, Daewoo E&C will jointly build the 22.8-kilometer six-lane bridge and connection roads with Larsen&Toubro (L&T), India's largest builder. The length of the construction is 48 months from the time of breaking the ground. As Daewoo takes a 50-percent stake in the consortium, it will be able to add US$240 million (288.6 billion won) to its sales revenue.
Starting with the automobile manufacturing plant construction project in 1995, Daewoo E&C clinched deals worth US$2.3 billion (2.77 trillion won) in total in India, including the hydroelectric power plant construction project in Dauli Ganga in 2000. With the latest contract, the company has re-entered the Indian construction market in 16 years. The Indian construction market is high favored in the world at the moment since it is valued at US$500 billion (601.25 trillion won) a year, which is equivalent to the whole region in Middle East.