Seoul, May 22 (IANS) The South Korean consortium has a competitive advantage in technology transfer over its Chinese rival as it vies to win the United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) high-speed railway project, estimated to cost $13.6 billion, Seoul’s transport minister said.

Transport Minister Park Sang-woo said that the Korean consortium, consisting of the Korea National Railway, Korea Railroad Corp., Hyundai Rotem Co. and POSCO E&C Co., has passed the pre-qualification procedure to enter the official bid for the Middle Eastern country’s railway project.

Park was in the eastern German city of Leipzig to attend the three-day International Transport Forum (ITF) Summit.

“Our primary focus is on technology transfer on top of product quality, while China appears to focus on the price dimension,” Park told Yonhap News Agency.

Earlier this year, the UAE opened two separate bids for the project — roadbed and railway vehicle constructions. It aims to build a new 150-kilometer-long high-speed train line linking Abu Dhabi and Dubai with a goal of beginning operations in 2030.

Compared to other competitors in the race for the bid, Seoul’s strength lies in its localisation and on-time capabilities, including technology transfer, Park said.

South Korea’s potential win in the UAE project could pave the way for the country to expand its foothold in the overseas construction market, especially considering that Seoul proposed a European high-speed railway model to the Middle Eastern country, he added.

Vietnam, Egypt and Peru are reportedly among the countries pushing for their own high-speed railway project in the near future.

In February, South Korea’s Hyundai Rotem won a 2.2 trillion-won (U.S. $1.6 billion) deal from Morocco to supply advanced trains. Last year, it also signed a 270 billion won contract to supply high-speed trains to Uzbekistan.

The minister also said South Korea will work to develop hydrogen-powered trains in line with the international community’s push for decarbonisation of the transport sector.

Earlier this month, Seoul’s transport ministry announced a plan to develop and commercialise hydrogen-fueled trains by 2028 to help the local industry secure global leadership in the field.

The value of the global hydrogen train market is projected to grow to $26.4 billion by 2035 from the current value of $2.67 billion, according to the ministry.

—IANS

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