Daewoo E&C is strengthening its push into the Southeast Asian market, with Vietnam and Indonesia as key bases. The company aims to pursue various projects such as the Kien Giang new city development, building on Hanoi's Starlake City, and to expand into national core infrastructure projects including railways.
According to Daewoo E&C on the 30th, the "Kien Giang New City Development Project," which involves creating residential facilities, commercial facilities, apartments, and social housing on a site of approximately 96 hectares (ha) in the Thai Binh area of Hung Yen province, Vietnam, is under active construction with a target completion date of 2035.
Earlier, Daewoo E&C successfully carried out Starlake City in Hanoi, Vietnam. In that project, the company directly handled the entire development process, from planning to land compensation, permits, financing, construction, sales, and management and operation. The Starlake City project is regarded as having served as a catalyst that led major Korean companies including Samsung Electronics, CJ, E-Mart, and Shilla Hotel to enter Vietnam.
Building on this, Daewoo E&C is pursuing the "Nhon Trach New City Development Project" in Dong Nai province, in addition to the Kien Giang new city. The Nhon Trach new city is a project to create apartments, villas, and mixed-use and commercial facilities on a site of approximately 55 ha, and land compensation and infrastructure construction have now been completed. Villa sales are also scheduled this year, raising expectations for full-scale project results.
Beyond urban development, the company is also pursuing entry into national core infrastructure projects. In April, Daewoo E&C signed a memorandum of understanding with Saigontel, a Vietnamese information technology (IT) and infrastructure development company, for joint development of a data center. With the Vietnamese government recently promoting policies to improve data center-related systems and expand investment, Daewoo E&C explains that this cooperation is an important starting point for expanding its digital infrastructure business going forward.
Going forward, the company will actively participate in national backbone network projects, including the Ninh Thuan Nuclear Power Plant Unit 2 and Vietnam's North-South high-speed railway. The Ninh Thuan Nuclear Power Plant Unit 2 is cited as the next candidate for overseas export of K-nuclear power after the Czech Republic's Dukovany plant. Based on its accumulated nuclear power construction experience, Daewoo E&C is preparing to participate as a member of "Team Korea" alongside Korea Electric Power Corporation and Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power.
Indonesia is also cited as a key strategic market for the future. Since its first entry in 1986, Daewoo E&C has successfully carried out a total of seven projects worth approximately $540 million in the fields of construction, plants, and industrial facilities, including the Kraft paper mill, District 8, and the Tangguh liquefied natural gas (LNG) expansion project. Building on this, in April, Daewoo E&C signed a memorandum of understanding with Sinar Mas Land and the Korea Overseas Infrastructure & Urban Development Corporation (KIND) to pursue the BSD new city development project. The project involves creating approximately 1,500 detached houses and shop-houses on a site of approximately 46 ha within the BSD new city in southwestern Jakarta.
Recently, the company also proposed a new development model combining future energy and digital infrastructure. Jung Won-ju, chairman of Daewoo E&C, who visited Indonesia on the 9th, met with Sugeng Suparwoto, chairman of the House Energy Committee, and Todotua Pasaribu, deputy minister of the Ministry of Investment and Downstream, and proposed an "all-in-one convergence development model" that combines an LNG plant, power generation infrastructure, a small modular reactor (SMR), and a gigawatt-class artificial intelligence (AI) data center into one.
Based on the urban development experience successfully accumulated in Vietnam, Daewoo E&C plans to expand its Korean-style mixed-use city development model in Indonesia and broaden its business scope to future growth industries such as data centers, nuclear power, railways, and power generation infrastructure. The company plans to use Vietnam and Indonesia as strategic bases to secure future growth engines and continue writing new success stories in the global market.
A Daewoo E&C official said, "Vietnam and Indonesia are not simply overseas markets to enter, but key strategic bases that will lead future growth." The official added, "To leap forward into a global developer encompassing planning, investment, development, and operation beyond construction, we will continue to identify customized projects tailored to each country's growth strategy, and create new growth opportunities in the Southeast Asian market through close cooperation with local governments and partners."
