One of South Korea's largest construction companies has secured a contract to build three petrol stations in the UAE.
Halla Engineering and Construction Corporation said yesterday it would construct the petrol stations in Abu Dhabi under the US$14.5 million (Dh53.25m) deal.
The work, which will take place over nine months, is the latest in a series of building agreements in a variety of sectors between the UAE and South Korean companies.
Based in Seoul, Halla has construction interests including railways, airports and hotels, incineration plants and factories and has extensive international interests.
As well as the Dh75 billion contract announced late last year for a consortium led by the Korea Electric Power Company to build four power stations for the UAE's civilian nuclear power programme, there have been many other cases of South Korean firms winning major contracts in the Emirates. In total last year, they secured projects valued at Dh117.5bn in the UAE.
Forthcoming projects involving South Korean interests include the Zayed National Museum, the design of which by the British architect Lord Foster was recently unveiled during the visit to the UAE by the UK's Queen Elizabeth II, and the Louvre Abu Dhabi.
Behzah Shahendeh, a Middle East specialist at Seoul's Hankuk University, said South Korean construction firms had been active in the region since the 1970s.
He said they were more recently moving up the value chain and taking on more sophisticated work.