Daewoo E&C consortium completes first constructability verification

Second round planned before full construction begins in April 2028

An aerial rendering of Gadeokdo New Airport. [Provided by Busan city]
An aerial rendering of Gadeokdo New Airport. [Provided by Busan city]

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport has pushed back against claims that it rushed approval of a basic design plan for Gadeokdo New Airport despite knowing that verification of a maritime soft-ground improvement method had failed.

According to the ministry Wednesday, the Daewoo Engineering & Construction-led consortium — the preferred negotiating partner for the Gadeokdo New Airport site development — plans to apply a maritime prefabricated band drain, or PBD, method for the first time in South Korea to stabilize soft ground, significantly enhancing drainage performance beyond the original master plan. To prevent trial-and-error during full construction, the consortium completed a preliminary constructability verification covering 90 test points across five offshore locations during the basic design phase.

The verification confirmed successful constructability in 89 percent of the area, classified as the "general PBD improvement zone" (N-value below 30). However, in the remaining 11 percent — the "hard PBD improvement zone" (N-value of 30 or above), where penetration resistance is higher — some cases of penetration stoppage and material deformation were recorded.

The ministry said the Daewoo E&C consortium transparently documented the verification data and identified problems in its basic design report, and had already incorporated remedial measures — including reinforcing the cross-section of the mandrel, the equipment used to drive the drain material into the ground — into the basic design.

A 21-member Central Construction Technology Review Committee, comprising experts across seven fields including airports and ports, then conducted in-depth discussions and deliberations on the basic design documents incorporating those improvements, ultimately rating the consortium's basic design as qualified with a score of 80.41 points.

"The Daewoo E&C consortium plans to upgrade its equipment based on the identified improvements, conduct a second constructability verification and reflect the results in the detailed design," the ministry said. It added that full-scale maritime PBD construction is scheduled to begin in April 2028 — not at the time of the priority construction ground-breaking this November.

The ministry and the Gadeokdo New Airport Construction Authority said they plan to attend the second constructability verification process and will thoroughly verify the safety of the maritime PBD method through technical advisory reviews and expert evaluations of the detailed design.


hwshin@heraldcorp.com