South Korea’s Hyundai Engineering & Construction Co. (E&C), Posco Daewoo Corp. and the Export-Import Bank of Korea (Korea Eximbank) will sign an agreement to build a 1,000-bed hospital for Shiraz University of Medical Sciences in Iran, according to the investment banking industry Thursday.

Posco CEO Kwon Oh-joon, Posco Daewoo CEO Kim Young-sang, Hyundai E&C CEO Jung Soo-hyun and the Eximbank Chairman Lee Duk-hoon next month will ink a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with the Ministry of Health and Medical Education in Iran to build the university hospital in the southern ancient city of Shiraz that had been the capital of Old Persian and now home to Iran’s burgeoning electronics and new energy businesses.

The Posco Daewoo and Hyundai E&C consortium had won the procurement bid by the Iranian government. Eximbank would arrange most of the funding for the construction.

Hospitals have been a part of renewed infrastructure and rebuilding projects in Iran following the lifting of international sanctions in January. Samsung C&T Corp. would take part in the building of a new 1,200-bed hospital for Shahid Rajaie Cardiovascular, Medical and Research Center in Tehran.

Shiraz is the capital of Fars Province - one of the most important cities in ancient Persia - which is located 672 kilometers away in the south of Tehran, Iran’s capital. Shiraz University of Medical Sciences is a prestigious medical school founded in 1949 running 11 hospitals.

Hyundai E&C is in charge of the construction that costs a total of $500 million, of which 85 percent will be financed by the Korea Eximbank.

Posco Daewoo will supply medical equipments for the newly built hospital. It is also working on to take part in the Iranian state project of building a Mahdieh Clinic Hospital in Tehran.

By Park Yong-beom, Chung Seok-woo

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