The 'Gadeokdo New Airport Access Railroad Section 2 Construction Project,' which failed to designate a contractor due to construction companies withdrawing during the first announcement of the integrated bid for Section 1, has entered the contractor re-selection process. There are forecasts that the project will avoid another failure in the second announcement, as the Korea Railroad Corporation, the project's coordinating agency, adjusted some conditions to reflect the requests of the construction industry.
According to the Korea Railroad Corporation on the 14th, a second announcement for selecting a contractor for the Gadeokdo New Airport Access Railroad Section 2 construction project was made on the 12th using the turnkey (design and construction executed simultaneously) method. Section 2 includes a roadbed (8.03 km), a tunnel, and one station, and the construction cost was approximately 532.3 billion won at the time of the first announcement.
The Section 2 project began the contractor selection process at the end of last year alongside Section 1. However, the contractor winning the bid for Section 2 faced a failure to bid due to the requirement to manage the design and construction of the system controlling railroad signals and power for Section 1, which led to a lack of bids from construction companies.
Immediately after the failure of Section 2 on January 24, the Korea Railroad Corporation held an industry meeting at its headquarters in Daejeon with about ten construction companies. At the meeting, discussions included reducing the amount through separate bidding and increasing construction costs. A representative from the Korea Railroad Corporation noted, "We are not just re-announcing but analyzing the causes of the lack of bids and preparing measures to address them before the re-announcement." After the meeting, the bidding conditions for Section 2 were changed to 'separate bidding for roadbed construction and signal/system construction.'
Through internal review, separate bidding was confirmed and administrative procedures were carried out. Considering the omission of the Section 1 signal/system construction, the construction cost was adjusted from the original 532.3 billion won to 397.6 billion won.
A representative from a major construction company said, "I have never seen a situation where multiple construction systems are bundled together for bidding on a large railway project. Many construction companies probably abandoned bids under the previous bidding method," adding, "With this separate bidding, there is a greater possibility of competitive bidding for Section 2, similar to what happened with Section 1."
Industry insiders expect companies such as Ssangyong Engineering & Construction, which showed interest in Section 2 during the first announcement, to re-enter the bidding. It is reported that Korea Expressway Corp. also expressed interest in the second announcement. A representative from Ssangyong Engineering & Construction stated, "We actively showed interest from the first announcement, before the separate bidding was implemented, and now that separate bidding has occurred, we believe the project has become more viable, and we are currently in the preparatory stage to participate in the bidding."
A representative from Korea Expressway Corp. stated, "It hasn't been long since the announcement, so the final decision hasn't been made yet, but we are interested and positively considering participation," noting that "the separate bidding for system fields, unlike the first announcement, had the greatest impact on our consideration to participate."
The Korea Railroad Corporation plans to accept pre-qualification (PQ) documents for bidders until the 31st of this month and identify participating construction companies. After that, a site briefing will be held next month, followed by bidding in September.