Bidding will resume for site preparation work for the national industrial complex site of the semiconductor cluster in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province. In Apr. and May, bidding was conducted for 1.4 trillion won, but the project failed because only Hyundai E&C submitted a sole bid. Korea Land & Housing Corporation (LH) this time increased the construction cost to 1.9 trillion won and eased the bidding qualifications. It also changed its plan to bid section 1 and section 2 sequentially and decided to conduct simultaneous bidding for section 1 and section 2. However, construction companies can participate in the bid for only one of the two.
As this is a major civil engineering project nearing 2 trillion won in construction costs, leading contractors strong in civil works, including Hyundai E&C, Daewoo E&C, GS Engineering and Construction, Lotte Engineering & Construction, Kumho Engineering & Construction, and Ssangyong E&C, are expected to mobilize and launch into a bidding war. In section 1, a consortium led by Hyundai E&C is expected to compete with a consortium led by Daewoo E&C. In section 2, Lotte Engineering & Construction and Ssangyong E&C are expected to join hands to form a consortium. GS Engineering and Construction is also expected to form a consortium and throw its hat in the ring for section 2.
According to the construction industry on the 18th, LH held a briefing on the 10th titled "Plan to Order Construction for the Yongin Advanced System Semiconductor Cluster National Industrial Complex." In Dec. last year, the government designated 7,786,740 square meters (2.35 million pyeong) across Namsa-eup and Idong-eup in Yongin as a semiconductor industrial complex and decided, through LH, to develop industrial facility land (58.2%), public facilities land (39.9%), residential land (1.7%), and support facility land such as gas stations (0.2%).
The project LH is ordering this time is to build basic infrastructure such as roads, water and sewage, and bridges before buildings go up in the industrial complex. LH will issue a bid notice this month and begin selecting the builder. In Jan. next year, it will complete the pre-qualification (PQ) for bidding participants, receive bids and business plans from companies that pass PQ, and select the builder in May.
The work will be ordered in two packages: section 1 (3,450,000 square meters, 1.05 million pyeong) and section 2 (4,330,000 square meters, 1.31 million pyeong). LH is considering issuing them simultaneously. The estimated construction cost is 1.1 trillion won for section 1 and 800 billion won for section 2, totaling 1.9 trillion won. That is about 500 billion won more than during the Apr.–May bidding.
LH decided to allow a joint execution method (consortium) of up to 10 construction companies. However, overlapping consortium formation between section 1 and section 2 will not be allowed. Joint contract among companies ranked within the top 10 in the 2025 civil engineering construction capability evaluation will be limited to two companies. For example, if Hyundai E&C and GS Engineering and Construction form a consortium for section 1, other large construction companies within the top 10 cannot join that consortium.
The construction industry expects a consortium led by Hyundai E&C and a consortium led by Daewoo E&C to compete for the section 1 bid. Hyundai E&C is said to be planning to form a consortium with Kumho Engineering & Construction. A construction industry official said, "Hyundai E&C and Daewoo E&C, the leading companies in the industry, are highly motivated to win the order, and the scale of the construction cost is large, so the competition will be fierce."
GS Engineering and Construction, which had considered forming a consortium with Hyundai E&C for section 1, is expected to pivot to bidding for section 2. The move is seen as a strategy to avoid unnecessary competition with large players such as Hyundai and Daewoo. Lotte Engineering & Construction and Ssangyong E&C are also expected to form a consortium and compete with GS Engineering and Construction.
Seo Jin-hyeong, a professor in the Department of Real Estate Law at Kwangwoon University, said, "Civil engineering projects to build large-scale industrial complexes, such as the Yongin semiconductor complex, often benefit from economies of scale and are more profitable than housing projects," adding, "many qualified construction companies will join the bidding war."