US$ 2.84 billion island links for Korea

Korea: Mott MacDonald has been awarded two contracts from Yooshin Engineering to assist in the design and build of two new road crossings connecting the islands Geoje, in the south near Busan, and Incheon, in the north near Seoul, to the mainland.

The lncheon project will include a new 800m main span cable stayed bridge, set to be one of the longest of its kind in the world. The structure will have a steel deck with 238.5 m high concrete pylons to give 74 m clearance of deck over shipping. Additional approach bridges and viaduct spans will take the total length of the link to 12 km. Due for completion by October 2009, the project is expected to cost US$ 1.24 billion.

The bridge will be built as a public—private partnership (PPP) concession, lead by Amec, making the company the first ever foreign investor to lead a major PPP project in South Korea. Amec will invest US$ 38 million, representing a 23% share in Koda, the special purpose company that will finance, design, build, maintain and operate the bridge on a 30—year concession awarded by the South Korean Ministry of Construction and Transportation.

The remaining equity and debt is being provided by a consortium of Korean Banks led by Kookmin Bank and IBK of Korea.

The Geoje project, where Mott MacDonald will assist Yooshin with construction supervision, will comprise two cable stayed bridges with main spans of 475 m and 230 m, and an immersed tube tunnel 3.7 km long, with a total crossing length of 8.2 km. An existing small island will form the transition between the tunnel and the approach spans for the bridge. The US$ 1.6 billion scheme is due for completion in December 2010.