SOUTH Korean Hanjin Heavy Industries Construction Co. Ltd. has expressed eagerness to resume the construction of the $2-billion shipyard facility in Misamis Oriental.

Governor Oscar Moreno announced this in a press conference Friday, but immediately added no timetable has been set for Hanjin’s return.

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Moreno, who accompanied President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in a visit to South Korea early this week, said the latest memorandum of agreement signed by Hanjin and the government to pursue the project will last until March of 2010.

The outcome of the South Korea visit, Moreno said, was “very positive.”

"Hanjin is still interested to resume the shipyard plant in Phividec, and things will now proceed in an orderly manner," the governor said.

It was learned that Tagoloan Mayor Paulino Emano was among the official delegates in the visit. Villanueva Mayor Juliet Uy was invited but had to beg off because she had just been to South Korea recently.

Moreno said Hanjin’s return to begin working on its shipbuilding facility would be delayed further because of the global economic crisis--blamed for the sagging demands for transport goods and other shipping materials.

Hanjin inked in January last year a contract to establish a $2-billion shipbuilding complex with the Phividec Industrial Authority--a much bigger investment than its $1-billion billion shipyard complex at the Subic Freeport Zone.

The project engages in ship parts fabrication and stands to hire 20,000 workers.

The government has declared the 441.8-hectare Hanjin project site an economic zone, which forms part of 3,000-hectare Phividec Industrial Estate.

If plans push through, Hanjin’s Misamis Oriental shipyard would be the company’s biggest shipyard facility outside South Korea and one of the biggest in the world.

Among the factors that made things complicated for Hanjin were its failure to secure an environmental compliance certificate from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources; relocation issues; disagreement with the state-run National Power Corporation over billing terms and land ownership.

Moreno said all these problems have been sorted out, and assured that the South Korean firm’s return to Phividec will be smooth.

The project was also rocked by a bribery scandal involving Mayors Emano and Uy. A task force had earlier cleared Hanjin and the two mayors from the bribery controversy.