North-South railway, road face hurdles

With the agreement between South and North Korea to restore the Seoul-Sinuiju railway and to build a new road, the direct exchange of visits and commodities between the two Koreas is about to be realized.

As Hyundai agreed with North Korea, it is expected to build a massive industrial estate in Gaeseong on a site of 20 million pyeong. When that is completed it will be impossible to accommodate the traffic with only the railway. For an easier exchange of visits and commodities, it is inevitable to build a road, according to authorities in South and North Korea.

Also, there exists an old road between Seoul and Gaeseong via Munsan. But it is unpaved, so it hardly can be used for major exchanges between Seoul and Gaeseong, which will be designated as a special economic and tourism zone. For now, there needs to be a new road built for the construction work for transportation of construction materials and workers in a region that is full of mines and military facilities.

Due to the short window for construction, it is required to adopt fast-track engineering approach to design and build at the same time. In particular, the works cannot wait the six months required for removal of mines, so foundation works might progress block by block along the 12-kilomter southern border line while simultaneously removing the mines.

As for the new road, South Korean officials intend to build a 6-kilomter two-lane road in each direction between Tongil Grand Bridge and Jangdan, a military demarcation line. North Korean authorities also are reportedly planning to construct a road between Gaeseong and Jangdan, but details of the project are unknown.

For restoration of the railway, existing rail will be used and construction of a new railway bridge will be considered, according to the result of safety inspection of the existing one.

In North Korea, there is a 4-km railway from Gaeseong, but it was removed up to the military demarcation line. For this reason, North Korea has to rebuilt the 8-km line out of the 12-km rail between Gaeseong and Jangdan. South Korean officials estimate that it will cost about 89 billion won.

Three South Korean construction firms -- Hyundai, Samsung and Daewoo -- designated for the railway and road building work, hailed the projects and are making preparations for the work. Hyundai Engineering and Construction, which has been involved in North Korean businesses through Hyundai Asan, formed an engineering team for the project. Samsung also plans to create a special construction team for the projected road and railway construction works.

An official at Daewoo Corp.`s construction division, which has been preparing for North Korean projects from the beginning of the year, said that there were a number of problems that must be addressed such as sharing of construction costs among participating companies and to form a consortium. He noted that it was urgent to form a cooperative body between government and private firms to carry out the works.