The Hyundai E&C consortium presented its final position to the government on the 8th, stating that a period of 108 months is needed for the site formation work related to the Busan Gadeokdo new airport. The basic design plan maintains the position that an additional 24 months is needed compared to the construction period (84 months) proposed by the government, citing safety and quality.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport has initiated the process to suspend direct negotiations with the Hyundai E&C consortium as the request for additional revisions to the basic design plan went unanswered. It plans to decide whether to retender after verifying the consortium's basic design plan and position through evaluations by external experts.
According to the construction industry and others, the Hyundai E&C consortium submitted explanatory materials to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport that included the need for an extension of the construction period for the Gadeokdo new airport site formation work.
The explanatory materials reportedly included simulation results involving an average of more than 250 airport, port, and design specialists participating over a period of six months.
The Hyundai E&C consortium argued that the construction period should be extended from the initially proposed 84 months to 108 months due to the complexity of the construction, which involves solidifying soft seabed while moving mountains to reclaim land from the sea, the need for safe construction methods in anticipation of high waves, and the additional stability required to prevent ground subsidence in the runway section's seabed. A Hyundai E&C official noted, "We presented a suitable construction period after considering safety and quality as top priorities."
Earlier, on the 28th of last month, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport requested that Hyundai E&C supplement its basic design plan submitted for 108 months and provide detailed reasons for the discrepancy from the 84-month construction period indicated in the bidding announcement. However, Hyundai E&C ultimately conveyed that it would maintain the existing basic design plan.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport indicated that, as Hyundai E&C has not supplemented the basic design, it has become difficult to execute a direct contract in accordance with national contracting regulations, thus initiating the process to suspend the ongoing direct contract.
Subsequently, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport plans to prepare normalization measures through joint task forces and expert advisory meetings. Once the technical feasibility analysis results of Hyundai E&C's basic design emerge through the joint task force, the results will be additionally reviewed for appropriate construction periods during expert advisory meetings.
An official from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said, "Based on Hyundai E&C's basic design and the basic plan for the Gadeokdo new airport, we plan to quickly prepare a project normalization plan that ensures safety and quality while minimizing delays, through joint efforts with the ministry and task forces as well as expert advisory meetings."
Through this process, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport will decide later whether to retender. If a retender occurs, it is likely that additional time, at least several months, will be required for administrative procedures such as reissuing the bidding announcement and conducting the basic design again.