Rabat – The Korea National Railway (KNR) led consortium has secured a $32 million (MAD 310 million) contract with Morocco’s National Railways (ONCF) to design the high-speed line that is set to connect Marrakech to Agadir.
KNR is a Korean railways construction and management group that has been awarded a contract worth $32 million “to provide basic and detailed design services for section three of the planned 230 km Marrakech – Agadir high-speed line.”
This is the first time KNR has won a contract for high-speed rail work in Africa.
KNR is partnering with other firms, including Korean-owned Dohwa Engineering and a local partner to carry on the project.
The Korean railway group overcame competition from French engineering companies already active in the Moroccan high-speed market.
The project will officially begin next month, according to Raili Journal.
“The award of this project served as an opportunity to inform the world that Korea has the technology to export high-speed rail designs,” chairman of KNR Kim Han-young said.
Kim added that the award is expected to become “a stepping-stone for additional orders for the Polish high-speed rail project, which is scheduled to be bid in the future.”
“The corporation will continue to do its best to serve as a platform to support domestic companies’ entry into overseas markets,” the Korean chairman concluded.
In January, Morocco’s Ministry of Transport and Logistics Mohamed Abdeljalil highlighted that the ONCF had completed preliminary studies for the Marrakech-Agadir high-speed railway project, including the study of infrastructure and civil engineering works as well as topographic surveys.
Abdeljalil noted that the project is expected to cost approximately MAD 50 billion ($5 billion).
In 2019, King Mohammed VI called for the implementation of a Marrakech-Agadir railway to further boost economic development in the southern regions and encourage tourism and industrial cooperation.
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