쌍용건설

Director Lee Jong Hyun of Ssangyong E&C, the core-brainer of the company

[Asia Economics reporter Choi Dae Yul] At the opening ceremony of 2nd stage Downtown Subway Line of Singapore that was held on the 26th of December last year, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong commented:
"The Rochor sector was such a difficult sector not only because of tight construction space, but also it was done under the canal. We had to find ingenious construction methods with the help of experts, and had to move the road above more than 30 times in the last 5 years to complete the task".

Rochor sector was solely under the command of Ssangyong E&C. The Prime Minister praised Ssangyong E&C pointing out the difficult sector, not just for the numerous projects that it had successfully achieved. It was more of an appreciation for finishing the project- a project that other construction companies with less adequacy would not even dare to participate in the tender- with new and diverse construction technique.

Director Lee Jong Hyun of Ssangyong E&C who directed the project explained:
"The project was only about 1 kilometer in length, but the cost was reaching 600 million US dollars. 3 different types of ground formation led us to propose 3 different types of drilling methods".
It can be viewed that the Singapore Government acknowledged the construction techniques of Ssangyong, since other sectors of the similar length was done at about half the cost.

Ssangyong E&C is experienced in difficult underground constructions in both domestic and overseas projects. In case of Seoul Metro Subway 913 sector that was completed in 2009, drilling was done as close as 15 centimeters below the No. 3 subway line.

In the case of Singapore Marina Costal Highway, the client was not even sure about the architectural design nor the construction methods of Ssangyong E&C to begin with. Director Lee Jong Hyun handled the tender and directed the construction itself. Lee is considered as a specialist of underground construction within the company. Once the construction began and progressed, the Singapore Government and the National University even sent out observation trips to the site.

Director Lee said, since it is extremely difficult for construction companies to win a bid for a normal constructions, Ssangyong decided to put its foot on the specialized, high tech construction field. He said that his technical team took part in every little steps from biding to the actual construction, solving problems and presenting countermeasures.

Underground civil engineering work is considered risky as it has far more uncertainties compared to other civil engineering works. Even after the groundbreaking, usually many unexpected things can happen. One good example is the Marina Costal Highway. The excavation required many steel piles, however the price for the steel piles went up because of price rigging of the local companies. Director Lee decided to place a steel pile production machine near the construction site and self-produced the steel piles for the construction.

൙years ago, when we were working on a horse racing track, we were in need of large quantity of fertilizers. However, the sole agent for the fertilizer increased the price 6 times the original price. We contacted other fertilizer companies, but the client didn't want to use other brands. So I had no choice but to send one of my team members to Denmark and made him buy the fertilizers in small quantities till it's a container full", director Lee said.

Director Lee began his overseas career with the 1995 Indonesian road work and directed every major constructions of Ssangyong ever since. He is now in charge of marketing, tender, construction management of Asia and Pacific area as a foreign correspondent in Singapore.
"In every major decisions I make, I constantly try my best to find out what my client, and my supply companies would want", he said.