It has been pointed out that the infrastructure cooperation system, operated by the Overseas Construction Association to support small and medium-sized enterprises' overseas expansion, has been poorly managed. Critics say that instead of meeting with local clients and public institutions, the infrastructure cooperation officers focused on meeting with domestic public institutions and construction companies already established in the region, failing to fulfill their original role of supporting small and medium-sized enterprises in winning overseas contracts.
According to a recent comprehensive audit report released by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport on the 3rd, the infrastructure cooperation officers of the Overseas Construction Association carried out a total of 574 networking activities in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Peru.
Among these, only 24 cases (3.6%) involved meetings with local clients and public institutions. The remaining 550 cases (96.4%) were meetings with overseas construction operators already established locally and domestic public institution branches.
The infrastructure cooperation officer's role is to support domestic small construction companies in winning contracts abroad. Key tasks of the infrastructure cooperation officer include project contract consolidation, business development projects, coordinating small and medium-sized enterprises' overseas expansions, and disseminating information regarding local laws and regulations. The Overseas Construction Association currently operates the overseas cooperation officers system in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Peru.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport has entrusted the Overseas Construction Association with the role of fostering and supporting small construction enterprises seeking to expand into overseas construction markets under the Overseas Construction Promotion Act, and it provides the necessary budget for this.
In particular, this audit revealed that infrastructure cooperation officers appointed in regions where English is not the official language struggled to communicate in the local language and had low activity levels. Nevertheless, the association did not take measures such as staff training support.
The Ministry pointed out that many networking activities of the infrastructure cooperation officers were skewed towards meetings with overseas construction operators already established locally and branches of Korea's public institutions, stating, "The limited local networking activities of the infrastructure cooperation officers have limitations in leading to overseas construction contracts."
In response, the Ministry stated that "the association has supported overseas construction operators' local contract activities but has not generated tangible results such as actual contracts" and called for concrete plans to be established and implemented to actively promote networking activities.
Additionally, the audit identified issues such as unreturned interest on international development cooperation project funding, improper management of the overseas construction integrated information service system, and inadequate management of overseas construction vocational training.
The Overseas Construction Association explained that the timing of the comprehensive audit coincided with COVID-19 and that there were limitations to activities depending on local conditions.
The association said, "In the case of the UAE, meetings with clients from private enterprises or organizations (associations) are extremely limited and only occur when there are urgent matters, while meetings with major clients such as government entities require cooperation from the embassies, making such meetings difficult due to local conditions." It further explained, "In Peru, there was large-scale and long-term lockdown due to the COVID pandemic, and during periods of regime change, protests, and political instability, meetings with clients and public institutions were largely unfeasible."
The Overseas Construction Association noted that "the conditions for local networking activities have improved since 2024" and added, "In the case of Peru, the number of meetings with clients and public institutions has significantly increased."
Furthermore, the association emphasized that "we are actively promoting networking activities to support our corporations in securing contracts, including reflecting the number of meetings with local clients and public institutions in assessing infrastructure cooperation officers" and stated, "We will continue to strive to support our corporations' contract activities."