"Will Gwangju's much-troubled Line 2 subway project finally gain momentum?"
Rebidding for construction packages 7 and 10 of Phase 2 of Gwangju Metro Line 2 will take place in the first half of next year. Despite five rounds of bidding, contractors have repeatedly passed on the section because of its high construction difficulty and heavy civil complaints, even though the project cost offered is low.
At a settlement review of the Urban Railway Construction Headquarters held Wednesday by the Road and Traffic Committee of the South Jeolla-Gwangju Unified Metropolitan City Council, Lee Geum-hwa, head of the Urban Railway Construction Headquarters, said, "Packages 7 and 10 have failed to attract bids five times, and supplementary design work is nearly complete."
The headquarters plans to complete an underground safety impact assessment and an environmental impact assessment, negotiate the total project cost with the Ministry of Economy and Finance by the end of this year, and put the packages out for rebidding in the first half of next year.
Packages 7 and 10 cover a difficult stretch marked by narrow roads and complex underground utilities.
As contractors have shied away from the work, the repeated failed bids have also slowed the overall progress of the Gwangju Metro Line 2 project.
The headquarters had initially planned to select a contractor through redesign work by the first half of this year. But supplementary design, various impact assessments and total-cost negotiations with the ministry pushed the rebidding timeline back by about a year.
To prevent further failed bids and delays, the headquarters also decided to improve construction conditions.
Particularly, more rock formations and underground obstacles than expected delayed Phase 1 construction. As a result, the headquarters narrowed the interval for ground surveys from 100 meters to 50 meters and strengthened advance surveys for underground obstacles.
"Construction conditions are clearly better than before. It is hard to say for certain whether a contractor will be selected in the next round of bidding," headquarters officials said.
The settlement review that day also raised concerns about fiscal management.
Of the 482.75 billion won ($360 million) budgeted last year for the special account for the urban railway project, 323.22 billion won was spent and 154.74 billion won was carried over to this year.
Lawmakers pointed out that a large portion of the project budget was carried over even though the city had borrowed 90.9 billion won in local bonds between October and November of last year. They said local bond issuance and project spending needed to be managed more strictly.
sij@heraldcorp.com
