Korea Expressway Corp. on Jan. 31 invited some 100 top executives of construction firms including CEOs of 40 firms to a breakfast meeting to brief them on major highway projects to be undertaken this year and to seek their cooperation, the company said recently.

At the meeting, Korea Expressway Corp. decided to come up with projects tailor-made for various types of construction firms, including building firms, professional builders and construction workers to cope with various problems in the construction market exacerbated by the global economic slump hit hard by the EU debt crisis.

First of all, the company decided to execute 60 percent of its 2.5 trillion won budget in the first half, kicking off the construction of highways on Jan. 6, earlier than the usual schedule. This was done to overcome various problems as indicated in the Construction Investment Index, which show prospects for this year did not look good and have been that way since the slide began from the second quarter of 2010.

The subcontractors, suppliers, construction workers, and equipment leasers suffered the most in the slump, as many were not able to get paid on time for labor and leasing fees. The Korea Expressway Corp. came up with measures to inform the builders when to pay salaries and leasing fees and confirm the payments. The company decided to set up the Indirect Payment System and expand it to cover all highway construction participants across the country.

At the same time, they reformed the bidding system for construction projects so that the right construction costs could be reflected in the system, along with the introduction of an advanced project order issuance system based on those of advanced nations. The company also decided to teach Korean to some 924 foreign construction workers as of the end of last year and provide them with medical support, along with training on construction work such as concrete paving jobs so that they can become more professional in their lines of work. 

In 2011, following an agreement by the construction firms participating in highway construction, the clean index in the construction industry went up to 9.32 from 7.11, the quality performance index rose to 92.5 from 90.9, and the death rate from safety accidents fell to just three from 11.

The officials said, “We hope that a cooperative system with the construction firms would continue to be upheld and, based on this, we at the Korea Expressway Corp., as a state-run company, will continue to make efforts to invigorate the construction sector of our economy and promote joint development with the construction firms.” #