An international consortium including GS Engineering & Construction has been chosen as the winner of Australia’s major road project, worth 3.1 billion Australian dollars (2.7 trillion won), the Korean builder said Sunday.

The project is to build a 6.5 kilometer road connecting the Metropolitan Ring Road and the Eastern Freeway in Melbourne, including major bridges and interchanges.

Ground was broken for the project on Oct. 28, a GS E&C official said Sunday.

It is the Korean firm’s first foray into the Australian infrastructure market. The consortium will not only build, but will operate and maintain the road and infrastructure for the 25 years after their completion, it said.

GS E&C is both the consortium’s equity investor and a member of the building joint venture.

Other equity investors include Capella, John Laing, DIF, Pacific Partnership and the Italian construction company Webuild. 

The joint venture to oversee the construction work consists of GS E&C, CPB, Webuild and China State Construction Engineering.

GS E&C did not disclose the size of its stake in the consortium.

“Our project in Australia is a good example of how far Korean construction companies have come in both technological prowess and financing capability. We hope it will set a successful example of partnership between globally renowned companies” a GS official said via a press release.

“Through this project, we hope to expand our area of business from simply designing and constructing infrastructure to being able to invest, finance and manage an entire construction project. We will use (the project) as a stepping stone to leap into the top tier of global construction developers,” the official added.

Despite the pandemic posing challenges for local construction companies in expanding overseas businesses, GS E&C has won a number of international construction projects this year. 

In one such deal, its Spanish subsidiary, GS Inima, won a bid to build a water treatment facility in Oman, worth some 1.4 trillion won.