POSCO E&C Consortium Selected as Preferred Negotiation Partner for Seoul~Yangju Expressway

Significant Improvement Expected in Transportation Convenience in Northern Gyeonggi Region

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced on the 11th that it has selected the POSCO E&C consortium as the preferred bidder for the Seoul?Yangju Expressway.

Seoul~Yangju Expressway Private Investment Project Route Map (Initial Proposal Standard). [Photo by Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport]

The Seoul?Yangju Expressway is a four-lane road with a total length of 21.6 km, connecting the Uijeongbu section of the Seoul Metropolitan Area 1st Ring Expressway and the Yangju section of the Seoul Metropolitan Area 2nd Ring Expressway.

The project will be promoted under the BTO-a (Build-Transfer-Operate with profit-sharing) model, with an estimated total project cost of approximately 860.7 billion KRW. Construction is scheduled to begin in the second half of 2025, with the opening targeted for the end of 2030.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport initiated a third-party proposal announcement last August to recruit a project operator (preferred bidder selection), and as a result, the POSCO E&C consortium submitted a sole application. The POSCO E&C consortium includes Geumgwang Enterprise, Daebo Construction, Hyosung Heavy Industries, Daesang Construction, CNC General Construction, and Seoyoung Engineering. Financing will be handled by KB Kookmin Bank and Hana Bank, among others.

Accordingly, an evaluation team composed of experts from various fields assessed the appropriateness of the business plan proposed by the POSCO E&C consortium from the 9th to the 10th, and the plan was evaluated to meet the selection criteria. The Ministry and POSCO E&C will begin negotiations at the end of this month to finalize the detailed aspects of the project.

Once the Seoul?Yangju Expressway opens, traffic congestion in Dongducheon, Yangju, and Uijeongbu is expected to ease. Additionally, travel time from Dongducheon to Seoul’s Eastern Arterial Road is expected to be reduced from the current 40?60 minutes to about 20 minutes, significantly improving transportation convenience in the northern Gyeonggi region.

Lee Yong-wook, Director of the Road Bureau at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, stated, “Through this project, one axis of the national plan for the metropolitan radial ring network will be established, greatly improving traffic conditions in the area and revitalizing the regional economy of northern Gyeonggi.”