Daewoo wins major Libyan project despite diplomatic row

South Korea’s Daewoo Engineering and Construction Co. said yesterday it had won a major power plant project in Libya despite a row over alleged spying by Seoul.

Daewoo signed a contract in Libya with the state-run General Electricity Company of Libya to build a 750-megawatt power plant in Zwitina, some 140 km southwest of Benghazi, for $438 million.

The project will start in November and is to be completed by May 2013, the company said. It is the fourth major power plant contract Daewoo has won in Libya since 2003.

It comes even though Libya expelled a South Korean intelligence official in June for allegedly trying to collect information on ruler Moamer Kadhafi, his family and leading bureaucrats.

Libya also suspended operations at its de facto embassy in Seoul, forcing South Korean business people to go overseas to seek visas for Libya.

“A diplomatic row is one thing and business is another,” a Daewoo spokesman said. “This deal shows the diplomatic friction has no direct impact on economic exchanges between the two countries.”

Relations have also been strained by the arrest of a South Korean Christian pastor in Libya and by media coverage of the country.

Libya is one of the largest construction markets for South Korea – South Korean firms are currently working on civil engineering contracts worth more than $9 billion, according to the International Contractors Association of Korea.