Daewoo Engineering and Construction Co. has won its first construction project for this year by picking up an ODI phosphate rock fertilizer plant construction project in Morocco and an onshore gas facilities construction project in Saudi Arabia worth a combined $460 million, the company said recently.

The Moroccan phosphate plant project is to be built in an industrial complex some 180 km southwest of Rabat, the capital of Morocco, for $330 million with a targeted completion period of 27 months.

Moroccan Phosphate Corp. initially planned to divide the project into four and give them to a number of construction firms, but gave the entire project to Daewoo in consideration of the reputation the company has built in North African countries through the years. Daewoo officials said European and North American firms have been dominating the construction markets in North African countries thus far, but now Daewoo has cracked it open, by beating construction firms from Spain, Italy, and Canada, which is very meaningful.

Daewoo is the only Korean builder operating in Morocco, starting with the takeover of the Rabat Hilton in 1997, and has been engaged in the construction of a $1.23 billion thermal power plant, the largest such power plant in the North African country, since 2010. 

Morocco has the largest phosphate rock reserves in the world and plans to build more phosphate plants, double the current number by 2020, increasing the possibility that Daewoo might win more such projects in Morocco.

As of now, Daewoo is undertaking some $15 billion worth of construction projects in Morocco, the largest among Korean builders in the Middle East and North Africa, and is in a good position to secure more construction projects in North African countries.

The Saudi gas facilities are to be built at a location near the border between Saudi Arabia and Kuwait so that the plant can separate the gas from the nearby Al Kafuji gas field, treat it, and transport it to the plant, which was jointly ordered by Saudi Arabia and Kuwait through joint-venture firm KJO. The project is worth $130 million and Daewoo is to complete it in 36 months.

Daewoo officials said their company is one of the strongest for petrochemical projects with the world’s best record and competitive power in the sector.

Daewoo entered Saudi Arabia, the largest construction market in the Middle East last year, and clinched four projects worth $765 million in just four months, settling it in the Middle Eastern country with one of the world’s largest oil reserves.

Daewoo plans to expand its projects in Saudi Arabia as the years progress, as its expertise in technologies for building upstream crude oil production facilities has won recognition from all over the world. In winning the gas facilities project, Daewoo had to beat 18 rivals in a heated competition.

Daewoo Construction plans to expand its share of the construction market in the Arab kingdom as the years progress.