Korean contractor to build El Salvador megaproject

Digital rendering of the planned Francisco Morazán viaduct in El Salvador, which Dongbu Corporation will build (Image: Ministerio de Obras Públicas, El Salvador)

Korean contractor Dongbu Corporation will build a new megaproject in El Salvador – the $410 million Los Chorros extension to the Pan-American highway.

The project includes building the new 1km-long Francisco Morazán viaduct, which will be the longest, highest and most complex in the country, according to the office of El Salvador president Nayib Bukele.

Work also involves expanding 15km of highway from kilometres 13 to 28. The stretch from as Delicias, Santa Tecla to old Poliedro will expand to eight lanes, while the road from old Poliedro to San Juan Opico will expand to six lanes.

The Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI) along with the Korea Import and Export Bank will finance more than 50% of the cost of the project.

Dongbu is set to move the machinery that it will use for the construction work this month. Next month, it will start excavation work.

Construction is expected to take two years to complete.

Meanwhile, two Korean companies are in the running for a supervisory role in the project, one of them in association with a Spanish company.

That deal has not yet been awarded.