Korea will likely be a major player in building South America’s largest suspension bridge this year.

Chile laid out plans to build the $720 million, 2.5-kilometer suspension bridge as part of measures commemorating its bicentennial in 2010. It will award the contract to one of eight consortia this year, according to investment officials visiting Korea last week.

The Chilean delegation wrapped up its four-day drive at the Chilean Embassy in Korea on Thursday to attract big local brands like Hyundai, Doosan, POSCO and Daewoo to invest in big infrastructure projects, mining and industrial sectors.

“There is a bidding process currently for the construction of a suspension bridge in southern Chile worth $720 million,” said Matias Mori Arellano, executive vice president of Chile’s foreign investment committee which is charged with promoting FDI, at the embassy on Thursday.

“Out of the eight consortia, four have Korean companies. Chances are a Korean company will be awarded a significant portion of that bid.”

The region around Chacao Channel in the country’s south is one of the most seismically active areas of the world. The suspension bridge will be a huge undertaking.

“Chacao is in engineering hell ― tides, winds and earthquakes, it is an incredibly hard engineering challenge,” he said.

The bridge construction project will also mean an increase of Korean investment in Chile, Arellano said. Korea invested $200 million last year.

The South American nation attracted one of the largest amounts of FDI in Latin America, some $30 billion in 2012.

(ephilip2011@heraldcorp.com)