A US$1.6bn Project
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced on Dec. 2 that the Paraguayan upper house passed a special bill on Dec. 1 regarding a light rail transit (LRT) project in Asunción.
The passage of the bill means that South Korea has won the project. According to the bill, the project will be launched based on an agreement signed with the South Korean consortium led by the Korea Overseas Infrastructure & Urban Development Corp. The lower house is yet to pass it and the final contract is expected to be concluded next year.
The LRT project is to cover 43 kilometers between the capital city and Ypacaraí. The total size of the project is US$1.6 billion, consisting of US$600 million in construction and US$1 billion in operation and management. The South Korean consortium is supposed to build the system for four years and run it for 30 years.
The project is South Korea’s first railway system export on a turn-key basis. It is especially meaningful in that South Korea’s overseas construction is in a slump. The annual track record reached an all-time high of US$71.6 billion in 2010 and has been US$20 billion to US$30 billion since then.