GS Construction Advances in Australian Road Project... CEO Heo Yunhong Visits Site

GS Construction's first entry into the Australian infrastructure market, the Northeast Link (NEL) road project, is now gaining full momentum.

Huh Yoonhong, CEO of GS Engineering & Construction (center), who attended the 'Smoking Ceremony' event at the NEL road construction site in Melbourne, Australia, is taking a commemorative photo. (Provided by GS Engineering & Construction)

On the 24th, GS Construction announced that it held a 'Smoking Ceremony' to pray for safety ahead of tunnel excavation at the NEL road construction site located in Melbourne, Australia. The event was attended by CEO Heo Yunhong, clients, partners, and other stakeholders.

The Smoking Ceremony is a traditional ritual performed before important events in Australia, meant to cleanse the area and drive away negative energy.

The NEL road project is a large-scale project with a total budget of approximately 10.1 trillion KRW, involving the construction of about a 6.5 km tunnel connecting the northeastern Melbourne outer ring road and the Eastern Freeway. The consortium including GS Construction was selected as the final bidder by the Victorian state government authority in October 2021. Construction is underway with a target completion date of the end of December 2028.

This project marks GS Construction's first venture into the Australian infrastructure market. GS Construction's portion of the construction cost is about 2.8 trillion KRW, making it the second largest contract after the 2009 plant order in the United Arab Emirates. It attracted attention at the time of the award as the largest single project ordered within Australia.

GS Construction will use the TBM method to excavate the 6.5 km tunnel in this project. The TBM method refers to the automatic excavation of circular tunnels using large machinery. The commencement of TBM in tunnel construction signifies the official start of the main construction work.

A GS Construction official stated, "Based on our years of accumulated construction technology overseas and our capabilities in public-private partnership (PPP) investment development projects, we plan to successfully complete NEL, our first infrastructure project in Australia."

Meanwhile, this project site marks CEO Heo's first overseas trip. After the ceremony, CEO Heo visited the site in person to listen to the opinions of on-site workers and urged for a safe and successful project completion.