Public Private Partnership (PPP) project, which SK Engineering & Construction (SK E&C) is pushing for, is gaining prominence in Europe and Central Asia.
SK E&C announced on Feb. 23 that the Kazakhstan's Almaty Ring Road project has been selected as the European Transport Deal of the Year by Project Finance International (PFI), a global financial magazine.
As a result, SK E&C's overseas infrastructure PPP project received PFI's global financial award for three consecutive years.
In 2018, Turkey's Canakkale Bridge and Road Project, which will build the world's longest suspension bridge, was awarded the honor.
In 2019, the British Silver Town Tunnel Project, the first Western European PPP project participated by a Korean company, was awarded.
The Almaty Ring Road project is Kazakhstan's first infrastructure PPP project to establish a 66km ring road, 21 bridges and 8 interchanges to ease traffic congestion in Almaty, Kazakhstan's economic capital.
The total project period is 20 years, with 50 months of construction and 15 years and 10 months of operation.
It is characterized by a BOT (construction, operation, transfer) method that is completed and operated and transferred to the government, and the AP (Availability Payment) method, in which the government pays fixed income during the operation period, so that it has not risk of operating income fluctuation due to traffic forecast failure.
SK E&C formed a consortium with Korea Expressway Corporation, Alarko, and Makyol in Turkey and signed an agreement with Kazakhstan's Ministry of Industrial Infrastructure Development (MIID) on the construction and operation of Almaty ring road in February 2018.
In February 2020, it signed a financial agreement with a major group led by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), and the Eurasian Development Bank (EDB) to raise 580 million dollars out of 750 million dollars in project financing.
Later in August, the company overcame the difficulties caused by the prolonged COVID-19 and successfully completed the financial close process to start construction in earnest. The current process rate is about 15 percent and is expected to be completed in September 2024.
Including this project, SK E&C is currently carrying out a number of overseas infrastructure PPP projects. In Turkey, the Eurasian Undersea Tunnel was completed in December 2016 and is currently in operation.
For the Canakkale Bridge and Road project, which was won with DL E&C, the company is speeding up construction with the aim of opening in early 2022. The Silver Town Tunnel, which runs through the lower Thames River in London, is also under construction with the aim of opening in 2025.
Ahn Jae-hyun, CEO of SK E&C, said, "It is an honor to receive the global financial award for overseas infrastructure PPP project for three consecutive years. As a global developer, we are planning to seek business opportunities not only in Europe but also in various regions around the world."
