KUALA LUMPUR: South Korea, one of the many countries eyeing the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore highspeed rail (HSR) project, is making preparations to submit the request for proposal to the local authorities.
In a statement recently, the country announced the setting up of the Korean Consortium called KL-SG HSR Project’s AssetsCo jointly held with its Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.
Consortium members include Korea Rail Network Authority (KRNA), Korail, Korea Railroad Research Institute, Hyundai Rotem, Korea Telecom, and Hyundai Heavy Industries.
Consortium members are preparing for the request for proposal that is expected to come in the second half of this year representing the leading companies in South Korean railway industry and are making it known that the consortium is in the race for the HSR project.
“Kickoff of the restructured Korean Consortium means that we will now focus our capabilities and efforts to preparing the best possible proposal for achieving win-win situation for South Korea and Malaysia and Singapore,” said Kang Yeong-il, chairman and chief executive officer of KRNA.
“The South Korean consortium has been paving the way to come up with the most favourable proposal by doing thorough on-site investigations from early on and by holding bilateral technical seminars and cooperation conferences with Malaysia and Singapore.
“The consortium has also been quick in adapting to project implementation methods decided by the governments of Malaysia and Singapore as revealed in the memorandum of understanding signed in July last year and the formal agreement signed just last month.”
The South Korean has also signed a financial advisory agreement with the Export-Import Bank of Korea and Korea Development Bank to boost financial competitiveness, thus developing an aggressive financial business model that will meet the competitiveness of other countries.
KRNA, leader of the consortium, has built about 700km of HSR in recent years, such as the opening of Gyeongbu HSR Phase 1 in 2004, Gyeongbu HSR Phase 2, Honam HSR and Suseo HSR.
According to France-based International Union of Railways statistics, South Korea scored 99.79 per cent in punctuality rate and 0.073 in accident rate to secure top rank in the world .
In collaboration with KoreaTourism Organisation, Korea’s KTX ( Korea’s HSR) local showroom plans to hold events that offer discounts on fares to Malaysians and Singaporeans visiting South Korea besides other similar events that will promote KTX, Korea’s HSR and Korean tourism to people of two countries.