Executives and staff of Ssangyong E & C attended Equatorial Guinea event at Expo 2012 Yeosu Korea while the major builder of South Korea has won prestigious awards in Singapore, including the recent BCA Platinum and Gold Awards
The event to mark the National Day of Equatorial Guinea was held in the 2012 Yeosu Expo on June 16. The event was attended by executives and staff of Ssangyong E & C (Chairman: Kim Seok-joon) and 200 family members, including vice president Kim Seung-joon of the International Business Division. Ssangyong E & C is now working actively in Equatorial Guinea in Africa.
At the event, Alfonso Nsue Mokuy, Second Deputy Prime Minister of the African nation, said, “Equatorial Guinea, near the Atlantic, holds a marine ecosystem and natural resources that are highly esteemed for their value in terms of geography and science. We are now making progress in economic growth based on these rich natural resources and political and social stability. In particular, we would like to ask many countries around the world to pay attention and participate in the medium and long-term economic development plan that we are pursuing”
Ssangyong E & C has entered the Equatorial Guinea market in earnest. The Korean company won a contract to build the Mongomo Leader’s Club, the Guest House of the African nation’s President, last October, and established a local branch there last December. Other Korean companies, such as Hyundai Engineering and the Korea Water Resources Corporation (K-water) are also working there.
Equatorial Guinea, which is situated on the Gulf of Guinea in Central Africa, has a population of 720,000, and a land area of 28,051km2. It is sub-Saharan Africa’s third biggest oil producer. The nation achieved remarkable economic growth of an annual average of 30.8 percent from 1996 to 2005 and reached US$ 36,000 per capita income in 2011. Under its medium and long-term economic plan called “Agenda 2020,” the African nation recently implemented the diversification of its industries as well as the expansion of its infrastructures including the development of new cities.
Meanwhile, Ssangyong E & C announced that it received the BCA Cons truction Productivity Award from the Singapore Building & Construction Authority. It won the top-tier Platinum and Gold Awards for its method to support sloping construction and its cable restraint system for a sloping wall, respectively. The Korean builder used these new techniques to construct the Marina Bay Sands Hotel in Singapore.
The award ceremony was held at Resorts World Sentosa in Singapore on May 24. The Platinum Award-winning technique was newly developed to build the 52 degree sloping hotel tower. The method applies post tension by minimizing steel support pipes and installing wires in the inside wall. With this new process, the Korean builder was able to shorten the construction period by 63 days, resulting in significant savings in construction materials (61.5 percent) and manpower (43.8 percent).
The Gold Award-winning technique is a method to install steel cables in parallel with the sloping wall for workers to implement the finishing work of its exterior on a suspended platform.
Ssangyong E & C also won the highest-tier “Star” rating award for the Green and Gracious Builders Awards from the BCA. The BCA evaluates all construction sites currently under operation in Singapore for their environmental friendliness and safety management.
The BCA Awards for Construction Excellence is the most respected award given by the BCA. It is presented to companies involved in all stages of construction work that have achieved the highest marks for design, construction management skill, construction technique, and eco-friendly technology. Since its first entry into the Singapore market in the 1980’s, Ssangyong E & C has obtained a total of 19 awards, beating all of its domestic rivals. The Korean company has received 14 awards in construction and 5 awards in environmental friendliness.