SEOGWIPO, Jeju Province -- Korean construction and engineering companies showcased their past infrastructure works at the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank’s annual meeting of its board of governors Saturday.

At a session titled “Presentation on Korea’s Technology and Capacities in Infrastructure Development,” companies presented their past work in developing infrastructure in Asia and spoke about the future.

“In the global construction market, Korean contractors have earned favorable reputations for technology, integrity and credibility including delivering in a timely manner,” said Park Kee-poong, the chairman of the International Contractors Association of Korea.

Speakers including Yun Yong-jin, vice president at Dohwa Engineering, Han Seung-kyu, team leader at Daelim, Ahmad Abdelrazaq, vice president of Samsung C&T, and Han Seung-soo, vice president of Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction, shared their companies’ solutions and start-to-finish work processes for creating environmental plants, public transportation systems and skyscrapers overseas.

The speakers also noted the importance of moving forward in construction technologies by harnessing the tools of the “fourth industrial revolution” including big data and artificial intelligence.

“When you look at articles from the World Economic Forum last year, they are saying that unlike other industries such as automobiles or information and communication technology, the engineering and construction industry all over the world has been slow to adopt new technology, and never underwent major change or major transformation,” said Lee Seok-hong, chief technology officer at Hyundai E&C.

Lee said that digital technologies are enabling advancements in building information modeling, which can lead to lower construction costs and higher accessibility to building capabilities by improving process management, quality management and safety management.

“Hyundai E&C is already utilizing drones and 3-D laser scanners for monitoring,” he said, noting that these technologies allowed for more precise tracking of building projects.

Shin So-hee, vice president of KT Corp., spoke about the role of information and communication technology in creating smart infrastructure.

“Continuous challenges and demands for advanced technologies and services have pushed telecom operators to take key responsibilities in the digital era of ecosystems to lead the rapidly changing environment,” she said.

As KT prepares to launch trial services for its new 5G network in time for the PyeongChang Olympic Games next year, the company is also “continuously transforming (its) mobile and network infrastructure to giga-speed, and putting building blocks to prepare for the new 5G convergence era,” she said. Shin noted the potential of information technology in transforming smart city, smart energy, transportation systems and fintech infrastructure, and said that KT planned to evolve “from a traditional telecom operator to an intelligent network-based platform provider to lead the rapidly changing market environment.” 

By Won Ho-jung (hjwon@heraldcorp.com)