스크랩 현대건설, 세계 최장 쿠웨이트 셰이크 자베르 코즈웨이 해상교량 준공 VIDEO: Kuwait plan for northern mega city faces political hurdles

[죤맥(李容完)]

Kuwait plan for northern mega city faces political hurdles

Sylvia Westall, Ahmed Hagagy

KUWAIT (Reuters) - A “Silk City” rising from Kuwait’s northern sandy plains will help diversify the Gulf Arab state’s economy away from oil, draw foreign investment and galvanize trade links with Iraq, Iran and China - or at least that’s the plan.

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현대건설, 세계 최장 쿠웨이트 셰이크 자베르 코즈웨이 해상교량 준공

총연장 36.1km 

한화 2조7000억원 규모 턴키 수행

세계 최고의 교량 건설 기술력 보여

    현대건설이 지난 1일(현지시간 기준) 쿠웨이트만 바다 위를 가로지르는 셰이크 자베르 코즈웨이 해상교량 준공식을 진행했다고 2일 밝혔다.

이번 사업은 쿠웨이트만 남쪽 슈웨이크 항과 북쪽 수비야 지역을 잇는 총 연장 36.1km의 교량과 건물 및 기계·전기·통신공사 등을 건설하는 프로젝트다. 공사기간만 66개월로 설계와 시공을 동시에 진행하는 패스트트랙 방식으로 진행됐다

앞서 현대건설은 원가 경쟁력을 내세워 글로벌 업체들과의 치열한 경쟁 끝에 한화 2조7000억원 규모의 설계·시공 일괄 프로젝트를 현지 업체(콤바인드그룹)와 2013년 11월 공동 수주했다. 전체 공사비 중 현대건설 비중은 78%인 2조1000억원으로, 1984년 리비아 대수로 이후 국내 건설업체가 수주한 해외 토목공사로는 최대 규모다.

특히 쿠웨이트 국가 발전에 기여도가 높은 초대형 프로젝트로 교량 명칭을 쿠웨이트 선왕의 성명을 땄을 정도로 현지에서의 관심이 집중됐다. 셰이크 자베르 코즈웨이 해상교량 준공으로 쿠웨이트시티 도심에서 수비야 지역까지 1시간 10분 이상 소요되던 거리는 20분 남짓으로 줄었다. 수비야 신도시 및 부비안 항만 개발을 통해 균형적 국토 발전을 이루는데 크게 기여할 전망이다. 

프로젝트의 핵심은 주교량 공사다. 해상 교량 부분의 주교량 340m 구간은 고난이도의 설계와 시공이 필요한 비대칭 복합 사장교(콘크리트와 강철로 합성된 주탑과 상판을 강철케이블로 연결 지지하는 형식의 다리)로 건설했다. 다리 상판과 주탑을 케이블로 연결하는 사장교는 대형 교량에서 자주 사용되는 일반적인 공법이지만 비대칭 형태로 복합사장교를 건설하는 건 흔치 않다.  

또한 해상 교량 중간에 약 33만㎡ 규모의 인공섬 2개도 조성했다. 남측과 북측에 조성된 인공섬에는 총괄관리본부, 방재유지관리, 구호시설, 하수처리장 및 변전소 등을 포함한 시설을 갖춰 섬내에서 모든 생활을 할 수 있도록 설계·시공했다. 여기에는 사고감지 카메라, 구간단속 카메라, 교통관리 CCTV, 과적단속 시스템 및 교량 모니터링 시스템 등이 추가됐다.

측은 GS건설이 시공한 도하링크/Dar Al-Handasah

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이밖에 현대건설은 교량 시공으로 인한 쿠웨이트만의 환경영향을 최소화하기 위한 노력에도 나섰다. 바다 생물들을 보호하기 위해 특수 환경생태블록을 설계·제작해 대체 서식지를 조성하는 한편 쿠웨이트만을 드나드는 바닷물의 경로를 고려해 인공섬을 만들었다.

박찬수 현대건설 토목사업본부장은 "이번 셰이크 자베르 코즈웨이 교량을 성공적으로 준공해 쿠웨이트를 넘어 세계에 현대건설의 명성을 다시 한 번 널리 알리게 돼 기쁘게 생각한다"며 "향후 현대건설의 풍부한 장대 교량 시공 노하우와 독보적인 기술력을 바탕으로 쿠웨이트 및 중동 지역에 추가 발주될 공사에서 기술경쟁력으로 보다 유리한 위치를 선점할 것으로 기대한다"고 전했다. 

배경환 기자 khbae@asiae.co.kr [아시아경제] 

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When the eldest son of Kuwait’s ruler presented an outline of the project to lawmakers in March, he faced stiff resistance. MPs criticized draft legislation that appeared to place the proposed zone beyond parliamentary oversight and raised concerns alcohol could be allowed in the Muslim country.

“It was a creation of a state within the state. It is the most dangerous law I have ever seen,” MP Safa al-Hashem told reporters after Sheikh Nasser Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah met her and other members of a parliamentary committee.

Nasser’s plan for an economic free zone and deep sea port, to be built in phases over 25 years, is meant to prevent Kuwait from falling further behind its neighbors which have opened up to foreign investment and are vying to be regional business hubs.

A view of the Sheikh Jaber causeway in Kuwait City on May 1, 2019. (AFP)/Al Arabiya

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But unlike its Gulf Arab peers, Kuwait has a powerful elected assembly whose members have pushed back against unpopular measures such as welfare cuts and a new sales tax designed to improve the country’s finances.

“There is increasing resistance toward reforms,” Kuwait’s central bank governor, Mohammad al-Hashel, told a banking roundtable in March. “It is a case of a sick body that is not willing to take the medicine. But without addressing our structural imbalances, we can’t make much progress.”

Silk City’s proponents say the project is central to diversifying revenue away from oil exports, which account for around 90 percent of state income, and developing the private sector to help reduce spending on salaries and subsidizes, which eat up around 70 percent of the budget.

The project encompasses five islands and a northern territory linked to the capital by the $2.3 billion Sheikh Jaber Al Ahmed causeway that is set to open on Wednesday.

In addition to a free zone and port, it envisions an airport, an Olympic stadium, a tower taller than Dubai’s Burj Khalifa, currently the world’s highest, and housing for up to 700,000 people.

The project aims to create at least 200,000 jobs, according to comments by Nasser reported in local media last year, vital in a country where more than half the Kuwaiti population is under 25 and an overstaffed public sector cannot keep absorbing new entrants to the labor market.

Reuters

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LIGHT ON DETAIL

Plans for an economic zone in Kuwait’s sparsely-populated north have been knocking around since the 1970s.

Nasser’s attempts to revive the idea have given it greater prominence because the 71-year old deputy premier and defense minister is seen as a possible contender to replace his 89-year old father as ruler after the crown prince, according to diplomats and two sources close to the ruling family.

They declined to be named because of the topic’s sensitivity.

The government also wants to fortify Kuwait’s defenses against swings on commodity markets as well as enhancing its regional security by partnering with China to build the zone.

Per capita, Kuwait is one of the richest countries in the world due to its small population and large crude reserves. But it experienced its first budget deficit in nearly 20 years in 2016 due to a falling oil price. In the meantime, similarly oil-dependent neighbors including Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the UAE have taken greater strides to diversify.

The Silk City plan is light on detail, particularly on who will fund it.

When the project was presented in state media in July 2018 its estimated cost was put at $86 billion but officials have not given a break down for this figure.

When asked about the funding in March, the secretary-general of the state planning council, Khaled Mahdi, told reporters the financial model was “still under discussion” but that the bulk would come from the private sector, without giving any details.

Sunset view of the arch pylon on the Sheikh Jaber al-Ahmad Al-Sabah Causeway which will lead to the Future Silk City, in Kuwait Bay, Kuwait April 23, 2019. REUTERS/Stephanie McGehee

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Kuwaiti authorities did not respond to a request for comment.

Adding to the questions swirling around the plan, Nasser dismissed the board of trustees responsible for running the project last week, a decree published in Kuwait’s official gazette said on Sunday, without giving a reason. A new board was not named.

A HARD SELL

Nasser’s plan bets on Iraq’s recovery from years of war and on Iran eventually emerging from U.S. sanctions, a longer-term view which has attracted China’s interest as part of its own so-called ‘Belt and Road Initiative’ to rebuild the old Silk Roads tying China to Asia, Europe and beyond.

A Kuwaiti source familiar with the plan said China could manage the port for a fee and share management of the economic zone.

Kuwaiti state media reported this week that a Kuwaiti envoy, on behalf of Nasser, signed a memorandum of understanding with China’s Development Bank on “development, construction and consultative cooperation” at a Belt and Road summit in Beijing.

A Chinese foreign ministry statement said the agreement referred to Silk City and the Five Islands development, but gave no details.

A foreign ministry spokesman said Kuwait was an “important cooperation partner” in Beijing’s Belt and Road initiative.

A draft law, published in a main Kuwaiti newspaper, al-Qabas, called for the zone to have administrative, legal and financial independence in a model similar to the Dubai International Financial Centre, which offers tax exemptions and its own judicial system.

MPs fear this will place the zone beyond their scrutiny. Lawmakers often question ministers, leading to cabinet reshuffles or parliament dissolutions to avoid no-confidence votes, including against royals holding ministerial posts.

“It will be a very hard sell,” said Kristin Diwan, senior resident scholar at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington.

“Right now the project has a bit of everything, it’s like a Dubai in miniature.”

Some MPs have cautioned against emulating “new” cities like Dubai, the Gulf’s freewheeling business and tourism hub, and bypassing a constitution where Islamic law is the main source of legislation.

“In its nature and identity, Kuwait is Arab, Islamic and predominantly conservative,” Islamist MP Mohammed al-Dallal said. “There must be no irresponsible openness.”

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-kuwait-economy/kuwait-plan-for-northern-mega-city-faces-political-hurdles-idUSKCN1S73I2

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