The projects, estimated to be worth around 12 trillion won (US$11.1 billion), aim to upgrade Thailand's water resources infrastructure and prevent massive flooding, like the kind that devastated the country's key regions, including its capital city of Bangkok, in 2011.
The projects
call for the building of reservoirs, dams, better use of land, improvements in
farmlands and construction of flood control canals and spillways.
Thailand selected three candidate bidders or consortia for each of the 10
related projects, with K-water and several other South Korean companies making
all of the shortlists. Other South Korean companies in the consortium include
Hyundai, GS, SK and Daelim.
The Thai government has been screening
potential bidders since last July, with South Korea, China, Japan and Thai
companies and corporations engaged in a tight race.
K-water said that
of all the competitors, only the Korean consortium it leads was tapped as the
preferred bidder for all projects along with ITD Power China JV, a Thai-Chinese
business concern.
A Thai-Japanese consortium also made the shortlist
in six projects, with a Thai company making three, it said.
The Thai
government plans to ask the companies on the shortlist to submit their bidding
prices, blueprints and other details by March 22, with the final winners to be
announced on April 10, K-water said.
"To some extent we had expected
to make the shortlist because the presentation and initial bid proposal made
last year was well received," said a K-water source who declined to be
identified.
He, however, made clear that being named as the priority
negotiation partner is only the start in what is expected to be a long
process.
He said that a "dream team," made up of 100 architects,
engineers and other specialists, is currently in Thailand to put the finishing
touches on the final proposal to be submitted.
"They will stay in the
country until their task is completed," the official said.
If the
K-water consortium wins the projects, it will be the first time that South Korea
will export its water management know-how. South Korean builders have proven
their ability to handle such big projects through refurbishing the nation's four
rivers.
The four river project, a major campaign pledge of incumbent
President Lee Myung-bak, called for the Han, Nakdong, Geum and Yeongsan rivers
to be refurbished so as to better conserve the country's water resources,
safeguard the environment and control flooding.
The state-run company,
however, said that because Thailand plans to award the projects separately, the
overall size of work to be assigned to South Korean companies will have to be
determined later.
"If our consortium wins the Thai water management
system project, it could lead to additional orders in other countries down the
line," a K-water official said.
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