쌍용건설

The construction firm is hard at work to restore its pedigree, after celebrating its 40th anniversary
Construction for Ulji University Uijeongbu Hospital and campus, totaling in 350 million USD, is underway

Ssangyong E&C, which celebrates its 40th anniversary this year, is spurring efforts to rebuild its pedigree as a household name in construction. The company is actively moving into domestic business following strong overseas orders.

Recently, Ssangyong E&C was designated the sole contractor of the construction contract for the Ulji University Uijeongbu Hospital and campus, which will be the largest in the Gyeonggi area. The commencement ceremony will take place at the 17th of this month. The total construction cost amounts to 350 million USD, and if the site purchase fee is included, more than 600 million USD will be invested.

This project is the first case where large-scale private capital is injected into the Uijeongbu's former US military bases. The firm aims to complete the campus in November 2019 and the affiliated hospital in October 2020, a year later.

Of the total area of 124,237 square meters, 89,660 square meters will be used for the Uijeongbu Campus of the Ulji University with a total floor area of 31,633 square meters, spanning 1 floor under and 8 floors over. The Uijeongbu campus will consist of nursing department, clinical pathology department, health graduate school, and clinical nursing graduate school. The size of the student body will be set to 702.

The Ulji University Uijeongbu Hospital is a 1234-bed hospital built on 30,777m2 of ground, with 5 underground floors and 17 ground floors. The hospital is the first high-tier general hospital (with more than 1000 beds) in northern Gyeonggi Province. In the greater Gyeonggi Province, it is the second largest after Seoul National University Hospital in Bundang.

A company insider said, "The company became the final winner the 350 billion won Ulji University's Uijeongbu Hospital and campus project. We know that the technology and reliability we brought to the table were well received in the business proposal phase. We will begin the construction shortly."

The contract for this project was signed on October 10, with the Ssangyong E&C receiving only pure construction fee, and land purchase fee was excluded.

Ssangyong E&C has been pursuing a series of projects in Korea since emerging from the court receivership last year. Since 2015, it has received orders for 8 redevelopment, reconstruction and remodeling projects, totaling 6410 households and 850 million USD, and succeeded in winning numerous projects in the turnkey market in four years. At the same time, the firm is participating in a bidding of a large-scale project with the budget of 2.1 billion USD.

The firm is also actively pursuing remodeling orders. POSCO-Ssangyong E&C consortium at the end of last year was ed as the remodeling contractor of Hansol Village 5 apartment complex in Bundang. Ssangyong E&C is one of the leading companies in the industry with a wealth of experience in remodeling projects.

The company plans to supply a total of 1,511 households worth of housing in three provinces and metropolitan areas in the first half of this year. Site locations include Busan Haeundae-gu Middle East, Gyeongsangnam-do, Miryang-si, Nae-dong, and Gyeonggi-do.

Ssangyong E&C has earned more than 2.4 billion USD in the overseas market in just one year and eight months after graduation from the court receivership. In late 2008, it won a number of high-end construction projects in Dubai, followed by a 300 million USD Singapore subway construction project early last year.

In addition, the firm won a total of 340 million USD in construction business in Dubai, Singapore, Equatorial Guinea, and other countries. Such overseas projects are the reason why the firm has been able to fast-track its path towards normal operation.

The target for this year's order is 77 billion USD, which is 3.3 billion USD more than last year's (1.8 billion USD). The sales target was at 1.3 billion USD, a 53% increase from last year (850 million USD).

The firm’s representative said, "We are actively pursuing overseas projects to cultivate new markets after graduating from the court receivership last year. We can also expect big construction orders from Dubai in the first quarter of this year at the earliest.”