Overseas Construction
As Korean builders successfully received construction orders from Middle Eastern countries like Kuwait and Iraq early this year, the total amount of overseas orders surpassed US$30 billion. As a result, the government predicts that the nation will reach its target of US$70 billion in 2014.
According to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) and the International Contractors Association of Korea (ICAK) on May 28, the amount of overseas orders obtained by local builders from Jan. 1 to May 27, 2014 equaled US$30.926556 billion. This is the second case where the amount surpassed US$30 billion before June.
Previously, the nation saw the number exceed US$30 billion on April 7, 2010, which was the earliest, helped by a US$18 billion deal for a nuclear power plant in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). An ICAK official said, “The year of 2010 was a special case where a nuclear power plant in the UAE alone approached US$20 billion. So, it is the first time for total overseas orders to exceed US$30 billion in a short period of time.”
The combined amount so far this year is a 32.6 percent year-on-year gain from the previous year (US$23.317865 billion).
By region, orders obtained from the Middle East amounted to US$24.586356 billion, accounting for 80.51 percent of the total, and Asia (US$4.520684 billion, 14.62 percent), Latin America (US$1.155485), and Africa (US$489.554 million) followed. By industry, orders for industrial facilities reached US$26.59461 billion, making up 85.99 percent of the total, followed by civil engineering projects worth US$2.13124 billion, and the US$1.453426 million of construction projects.