It has been claimed that the collapse of Laos Dam in July was caused by construction company SK Engineering & Construction`s attempt to seek excessive profits through design changes.
Kim Kyung-hyup, a lawmaker of the Minjoo Party, said, "This is the result of a comprehensive analysis of SK Construction's documents."
According to this document, PNPC, which carried out Lao Dam, signed a major condition agreement (HOA) in August 2012, which cost $680 million for construction.
The agreement guarantees SK Engineering & Construction $83 million in administrative expenses and profits. The agreement also included a $28 million reduction in construction costs and a separate incentive bonus for early completion.
SK Engineering & Construction held an intensive management meeting in November 2012 and decided to secure profits up to $12 million, which is 15% of construction costs.
In the final contract in November 2013, SK Engineering & Construction and PNPC added the condition that they will pay $20 million as incentives if early filling takes place before August 1, 2017.
The filling water began in April 2017 as planned. The filling water was originally scheduled to take six months, but four months later, it ended on July 25, 2017.
Kim said, "The five auxiliary dams were 10 to 25 meters high in the basic design of the documents, but the five auxiliary dams were actually constructed at 3.5 to 18.6 meters high."
Kim also said that the Laos Dam accident was a man-made disaster caused by SK Engineering & Construction`s excessive desire to make profits while taking the risk of design changes.
Regarding this matter, SK Engineering & Construction explained that it was not simply due to reduction of construction cost but it could change any amount during actual construction process.
