Shipbuilding Complex to be Established Near the Mouth of Han River

Development of a 10 million pyeong (1 pyeong=3.31 sq.m) sized shipbuilding facility complex is to be promoted within the economic free zone’s “peace waters” near Udo at the mouth of the Han River where converges the Imjin River.

It is highly likely that the complex will be developed with North Korea leasing the land for 50 to 100 years and South Korea overlooking the construction and facility production.

Meanwhile, for this construction to proceed, dredging the Han River’s mouth is inevitable and South Korea will take the gravel and sand along with other construction materials while providing SOC projects like mending and expanding the Gaeseong-Pyeongyang expressway to a four-lane way. Such decisions were made during separate meetings held by South Korean business figures and North Korean counterparts during the recent inter-Korean summit meeting.

President Kwon Hong-sa of the Construction Association of Korea met with the press on Friday and said, “There is a protruding bay, sized about 10 million pyeong, opposite Udo. Today ships are built in blocs and thus must undergo the final assembling process. However, since there are no docks, blocs are produced in China, Vietnam and the Philippines and assembled elsewhere. If a shipbuilding facility complex is established in the Udo region, there will be no need to go all the way to the Philippines’ Subic Bay while all distribution issues can be settled.”

Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) is known to show great interest in the complex construction.

Source:Maeil Business Newspaper & Maekyung Internet Inc.