Business & Finance Club - Industrial Sector - JEDDAH: South Korean construction firm Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. won a contract worth $1.6 billion to build a gas power plant in Saudi Arabia. Hyundai Heavy Industries said in a statement on Wednesday that it has been selected as the preferred bidder by state-run Saudi Electricity Co. to construct the 1,729 megawatt gas-fired plant in Dhuruma, 125 km west of Riyadh.

The project is part of Saudi Arabia’s long-term plans to expand its power production capacity.

The company, which will be in charge of design, construction and test-run of the plant, said it will complete the facility by March 20, 2013.

Hyundai Heavy won a record $2.06 billion order in October to build processing facilities for Chevron Corp.’s Gorgon project in Australia.

South Korean companies may win a record $70 billion in overseas orders this year, according to government estimates, helped by demand from the Middle East. Saudi Arabia, the Arab world’s biggest economy, plans to increase generating capacity as its population grows and industrial demand for power rises. Hyundai Heavy gained as much as 2.7 percent to 231,500 won and traded at 229,000 won as of 11:37 a.m. in Seoul.

The stock has advanced 32 percent this year, outperforming a 1.1 percent rise in South Korea’s Kospi index.

Saudi Arabia plans to spend $80 billion to raise its capacity and transmission network in the next decade as demand increases to 65,000 megawatts in 2018.