Market Trends of South Korea Transportation Infrastructure Construction Industry
New Highways in Pipeline
With the goal of becoming a 'safe and convenient future transportation platform company,' Korea Expressway Corporation is concentrating its efforts on building 'smart roads' equipped with autonomous driving and big data functions and solar highways. In addition, it plans to introduce a next-generation sales system that enables automatic payment of tolls even when driving at high speeds. In particular, to minimize the decrease in sales due to COVID-19, the Hanam Dream Transit Center, and Smart Logistics Center will also promote facility infrastructure projects.
The Road Corporation is promoting the establishment of 16 new highways, including 62km between Sejong and Anseong, through the National Treasury Project. When the 16 lines are completed, the total length will reach 520.88 km. In addition, the six-lane expressway project, including the Namhae Line (Chilwon-Changwon), the Honam Line (Gimje-Samrye), and the Jungbu Line (Seocheongju-Jeungpyeong), is in the feasibility and basic design stage.
The Seoul Metropolitan Government ]is planning to extend Seoul Subway Line No. 9 further east side of the country's most populous city. Under the plan worth 640.8 billion Won (USD 504 million), the capital city looks to add four more subway stops along a new 4.1-kilometer branch of Line No. 9, stretching out of VHS Medical Center Station, located in Gangdong-gu, Seoul.
Opportunity Through New Rail-Road Deal
Korea Railroad (KORAIL) is putting a strong drive on the 'Korea Railroad New Deal' project in line with the government's Korean version of the New Deal. This is because the railroad encompasses all of the 'digital,' 'green,' and 'regional balance' of the New Deal. Through this, the two rabbits of post-coronavirus and future growth will be caught.
Due to COVID-19, the number of KTX passengers last year decreased by about 40% compared to the previous year, and the decrease in sales reached 1.3 trillion won last year. In order to transform it into an opportunity for growth, we will focus on securing a sustainable growth engine while promoting management improvement through intensive cost reduction.
In fact, Korea Rail has identified five core areas, such as intelligent safety management, smart maintenance, intact service, eco-friendly railway, and creating good jobs, and divided them into 'digital,' 'green,' and 'regional balance' for a total of 30 tasks. Has been selected and promoted. Through this, it plans to create a total of 20,000 new jobs by investing 2.3 trillion won by 2025.
