BUSAN — With local construction firms facing mounting pressure from high interest rates, rising raw material costs and a property market slump, the Busan city government is bringing the country's largest builders together with small and midsize local contractors to open a path to actual orders. The city aims to go beyond encouragement and deliver concrete outcomes, including registration as approved suppliers for large builders and participation in subcontracting work, to shore up the survival base of the local construction industry.
Busan said it will host the Busan Construction Firms-Major Builders Win-Win Day at the Asti Hotel Busan on the afternoon of the 23rd. Now in its sixth year, the event was organized to give local specialty contractors struggling with funding shortages and a drought of new orders direct access to large companies.
About 100 officials will attend, representing 19 leading domestic construction companies including Samsung C&T, Hyundai Engineering & Construction, GS Engineering & Construction, Daewoo Engineering & Construction, DL E&C, Lotte Engineering & Construction and POSCO E&C, along with 34 top local specialty contractors that took part in the city's Busan Construction Industry Capacity Building program.
Twenty one-on-one consultation booths will be set up at the venue. Local firms will showcase their specialized technologies and construction track records, while working-level staff from the large builders will provide specific information on supplier registration requirements and on-site bidding procedures, with the goal of leading to actual subcontracting contracts.
Industry officials say the event could serve as a turning point in improving the underlying health of a local construction ecosystem now in crisis. Without raising the share of subcontracting work on large local projects awarded to local firms, they say, the result would be a chain of bankruptcies among small and midsize builders and a shrinking job market.
The city has supported a total of 210 local firms in registering as approved suppliers for large builders through its Construction Industry Capacity Building project since 2018. It plans to continue administrative and regulatory support to maximize the synergy between the advanced technologies of large builders and the on-site capabilities of local companies.
"We will strengthen a trust-based framework for shared growth so that the large projects that will drive the future of Busan as a maritime capital can translate into new opportunities for the local construction industry," said Baek Myung-ki, head of the city's Urban Infrastructure Bureau.