Kumho E&C said on the 19th it was selected as the preferred bidder after joining as the lead builder of the Kiwoom Asset Management consortium in the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport's Pyeongtaek–Siheung Expressway expansion private investment project.
The project is the first application of the government's introduced improved-operation type private investment scheme. The improved-operation type private investment project allows a private operator to recoup its investment by improving or expanding existing social overhead capital (SOC) and then operating the entire facility, including the upgraded section.
As the original proposer of this project, Kumho E&C plans to play a key role within the consortium, leveraging its project-planning capabilities and construction experience accumulated in the development and operation of private expressways. The total project cost is about 690 billion won, and Kumho E&C will participate as the lead builder.
The expansion targets the existing Pyeongtaek–Siheung Expressway, which has suffered chronic congestion since it opened in 2013. Rather than building a completely new route, it uses the existing operating corridor, and is being evaluated as a high-efficiency infrastructure improvement model that can minimize new land compensation and environmental burdens while improving traffic efficiency.
Currently operating as a four-lane, bidirectional expressway, the Pyeongtaek–Siheung route will be expanded to six to eight lanes through this project. From Seopyeongtaek JCT (junction) to Mado JCT, it will be widened to six lanes, and from Mado JCT to Namansan JCT, to eight lanes, with construction expected to take 60 months.
Once the expansion is complete, bottlenecks on the main traffic axis of the southwestern Seoul metropolitan area will ease, and it is expected to proactively respond to rising industrial and logistics demand in the southwest, including Incheon Port and Pyeongtaek-Dangjin Port. In particular, based on traffic volume data accumulated on the existing route, it can reduce uncertainty in demand forecasting, giving the project a stable structure.
After opening, the private operator carrying out this project will integrate the existing route and the expanded section and manage and operate them for 27 years.
A Kumho E&C official said, "The Pyeongtaek–Siheung Expressway expansion is a highly symbolic project as the country's first improved-operation type private expressway project," adding, "By successfully carrying out this project, we will lead the establishment of the improved-operation type private investment model and contribute to the expansion of similar projects."