South Korea's Hyundai Engineering Company plans to sign a contract, worth $500 million, to build a 500-megawatt power plant in Zanjan Province.
Prior to South Korean President Park Geun-Hye’s visit to Tehran in May, a group of Korean energy executives and experts have traveled to the Persian Gulf country, Mehr News Agency reported.
Established in 1974, HEC does engineering work covering the entire operations of projects, including feasibility studies, basic and detailed design, procuring, commissioning and maintenance.
The South Korean delegation has paid a visit to Zanjan, assessing the province’s facilities and infrastructure such as high-voltage power lines and gas injection stations. In an earlier meeting with Hyundai officials in Tehran, representatives of the Korean giant had pledged to finance and contribute to the construction of power plants in the Persian Gulf country.
Based on an agreement between an unnamed subsidiary of Iran Power Generation, Distribution and Transmission Company (Tavanir) and HEC, Zanjan’s fourth power plant is planned to be constructed by HEC’s investment and under a build-own-operate contract in an area spanning 24 square kilometers. In September, Korea’s electricity giant KEPCO expressed willingness to build a 1,000-megawatt power plant in Iran in a meeting with officials from Chabahar Free Trade and Industrial Zone Organization.
Hyundai Engineering Company has announced that concurrent with the South Korean president’s trip to Iran, it will sign a $3.6 billion contract on the construction of a gas refinery in South Pars with an Iranian private company.
Taqi Ebadi, director general of water and wastewater projects at Energy Ministry, said the ministry is in advanced talks with South Korea's K-Water company to introduce new water management projects in Iran, ISNA reported.
"A high-ranking delegation from the company is in Tehran to explore Iran's business environment and discuss grounds for cooperation," he said. K-Water is Korea's government arm for developing and implementing water projects, including the provision of household and industrial water. Officials say the transfer of technology is a prerequisite for doing business with internationals, including the Korean majors.
According to Energy Minister Hamid Chitchian, Tehran has called for Seoul's close collaboration in technology transfer and providing financial resources in power sector projects.
More than 10 million subscribers are planned to be covered by the smart electricity network during the next five years and Iran is willing to implement the mega project in cooperation with Korean companies that enjoy state-of-the-art technology.
