The bid for selecting the contractor for the 'Yongin Advanced System Semiconductor Cluster National Industrial Complex Construction Project (Section 1)' was held for a second time but was unsuccessful. As a result, the expectations for the semiconductor cluster have diminished, which could impact housing prices.
According to the maintenance industry and others on the 28th, the second announcement for the construction of the semiconductor cluster national industrial complex in Yongin was unsuccessful. The Daewoo E&C consortium, which was disqualified due to a low score in the construction capability section during the first announcement's preliminary qualification (PQ) evaluation, did not participate in this second announcement, and the Hyundai E&C consortium bid alone but was unsuccessful.
The Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH) Yongin Semiconductor National Industrial Complex Project Team received a letter of commitment for participating in the bidding for the Yongin semiconductor cluster national industrial complex construction project on the 26th, and only the Hyundai E&C consortium submitted a letter of commitment. Submission of a letter of commitment is necessary to participate in the subsequent selection process for the construction company.
LH presented 1.3814 trillion won based on the PQ construction capability criteria (track record of project execution). It is known that the Daewoo E&C consortium was eliminated due to failing to meet the threshold in this section during the first announcement. Afterward, the Daewoo E&C consortium requested a reduction in the criteria to induce competitive bidding. However, as the conditions were not relaxed in the second announcement, Daewoo E&C submitted a request to relax the PQ evaluation criteria instead of a letter of commitment.
A representative of the Daewoo E&C consortium stated, "We have experience in carrying out several civil engineering projects such as airports and bridges, so I do not think the site development project is a highly difficult task. However, I believe it is inappropriate to demand high standards for construction performance, so we submitted a request to relax the evaluation criteria," and added, "We need to wait for a response from LH."
This project involves developing a site for the advanced system semiconductor national industrial complex in Yongin's I-dong and Namsa-eup. Once completed, it is expected to become the world's largest semiconductor cluster, covering approximately 2.35 million pyeong.
Yongin Cheoin-gu has grown expectations for rising housing prices due to several semiconductor-related opportunities, including the national industrial complex. However, there are concerns that the selection of a construction company for the national industrial complex Section 1, one of the largest projects, may hinder this upward trend. A representative from a real estate agency in Cheoin-gu stated, "Yongin Cheoin-gu is a region that must compete based on future value, so residents hope that the semiconductor cluster will establish itself quickly, but if the project is delayed, expectations will fall."
In previous large public construction projects, criteria have sometimes been relaxed to encourage participation when competitive bidding was unlikely to occur. For example, in the case of the 10.5 trillion won new Gadeokdo airport site construction project, the standards for construction experience were specified as 'more than 8 billion won for airports', 'more than 9 billion won for ports', and 'more than 24 billion won for bridges', to stimulate participation from various companies.
An LH representative noted, "Currently, we are in the stage of reviewing various options internally, and no decisions have been finalized," adding, "We are planning to reconsider the method of selecting a contractor while keeping all possibilities open."
However, given the large scale of the project and the allegations of favoritism towards the Hyundai E&C consortium following the disqualification of the Daewoo E&C consortium, there are responses indicating that the likelihood of awarding a contract without bidding is low. A representative from a major construction company stated, "For a public construction project of this scale, it is rare to proceed without bidding, and since the prior PQ evaluation criteria were not meet-able unless it was comparable to Hyundai E&C’s scale, there may be cautious considerations from the LH side due to the favoritism allegations."