Daewoo Engineering & Construction announced on Feb. 8 that Chairman Jung Won-joo visited India from the 31st of last month to the 6th of this month, where he held meetings with several business figures, including Vice Foreign Minister Dammu Lavi at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and executives from the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC). During the visit, he checked the local construction and real estate market and seek strategies to expand the business.
Chairman Jung met with Vice Minister Dammu Rabi at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs building in New Delhi, India, on the 2nd, and expressed his intention that Daewoo E&C is contributing to India's economic development through the Mumbai maritime bridge and the construction of the Bihar bridge and wants to participate in more projects in the future.
Earlier on the 1st, Chairman Jung visited the headquarters of the NHPC in New Delhi to discuss pending issues related to the hydroelectric power project being promoted in India with management, including Raj Kumar Chaudhary, NHPC's technical director.
On the 6th, Chairman Jung held meetings with Ambassador Jang Jae-bok to India in New Delhi and Mumbai to ask for support for Daewoo E&C's local business. He also met with the top executives of major Indian construction and real estate companies such as M3M, BIRLA Group and Oberoi Realty to diversify and expand local businesses.
Daewoo E&C has carried out a total of eight projects worth about US$3 billion (3.99 trillion won), including the completion of the construction of the Bihar Bridge, which spans a total length of 22.76 kilometers and consists of a six-lane bridge and access roads crossing the Ganges River from the state of Bihar, India, and the Mumbai Maritime Bridge.
In particular, the Mumbai Maritime Bridge, India's longest sea bridge, which opened last month, received high praise in the local construction market as it was completed without any accidents after 69 months of construction. What's noteworthy is that to minimize damage to the mangrove forests, known as the "lungs of the Earth," and maritime pollution, the bridge's upper parts were prefabricated in factories, transported, and assembled using the Precast Segment Method (PSM). Despite the challenges posed by COVID-19, both in terms of personnel and materials, the project was completed, confirming South Korea's construction technology prowess in the local market.
Based on the success achieved in India, Daewoo E&C plans to diversify its business and expand its orders in various sectors, such as hydroelectric power generation, new renewable energy, public-private partnership infrastructure projects, and real estate development, in the future. Recently, the Indian government has been pushing forward extensive infrastructure expansion projects to achieve its annual GDP growth target of US$5 trillion. This creates a positive environment for the expansion of Daewoo E&C's local business in India.