Poland and the South Korea have tightened cooperation on the Solidarity Transport Hub project (STH). The Memorandum of Understanding signed today by the STH Plenipotentiary, MOLIT Minister and Presidents of both IIAC and STH companies highlights the prospect of Korea’s capital engagement in the Polish project.
The document was signed by Government Plenipotentiary for STH Marcin Horała and the Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) of the Republic of Korea Noh Hyeong Ouk, as well as CEOs Mikołaj Wild from the STH company and Kim Kyung-Wook from the Incheon International Airport Corporation (IIAC), company managing Incheon Airport.
The Memorandum provides for necessary steps to be taken to create a joint venture, under which the Korean party would acquire a minority stake in the joint investment. IIAC, which has been providing specialist advisory services for STH since the beginning of this year has confirmed validity of further actions towards financial engagement. By the end of next year (2022), both parties are to work out detailed terms of the investment.
The cooperation between Poland and the South Korea in terms of STH has been going on for many months. The Polish-Korean Aviation Working Group, which was established as a result of the intergovernmental MoU signed in February 2021, has facilitated a constructive dialogue between STH and IIAC teams and explored potential areas of mutual interest. The progress of the STH project enables taking further steps toward the joint project, i.e. Strategic Partnership that concentrate on the project valuation and feasibility assessment. Today’s Memorandum is the next step towards this goal.
– In hindsight, I assess the activities carried out jointly with the Korean side very positively. Today we are taking a big step towards preparing STH as a joint investment of Poland and the Republic of Korea. Such a move will make it possible to combine South Korea’s knowledge and experience with Poland’s ambition and potential. It is also a clear signal that STH is a well-thought-out, well-planned and promising investment – says Government Plenipotentiary for STH Marcin Horała.
– This MOU will be a stepping stone to confirm the will between the two countries for cooperation related to the STH development, and hence it will be a valuable milestone for the STH to become a global hub airport. The MOLIT and IIAC will spare no effort to support the success of the STH project based on rich experience in the construction and operation of Incheon Airport, which has the world’s best capabilities – says the Minister of MOLIT of Korea, Noh Hyeong Ouk.
The government and the operator of Incheon Airport, IIAC, have approved the fourth stage of the expansion of Incheon Airport this year. The long-term investment program assumes investing the equivalent of USD 5.4 billion by the end of 2025, including for the construction of Incheon’s fourth runway and the expansion of Terminal 2.
– In the case of Incheon Airport, mid-to-long-term projects, such as the 4th phase expansion construction, are ongoing as scheduled regardless of the Covid-19 pandemic so that we can respond smoothly to future passenger/cargo demand. We plan to review more actively for the joint investment considering the growth potential of STH as a hub airport in Central and Eastern Europe – says CEO of IIAC, Kim Kyung-Wook.
– The cooperation started earlier this year has developed as planned. Incheon experts provided us with all the reports and analyses. We appreciate the high quality of the documents delivered. Step by step, according to the plan, we have implemented several stages of cooperation. Consequently, we are much closer to the decision on joint capital involvement – says Mikołaj Wild, President of the STH company.
The Incheon Airport was built in stages. During the first stage, two parallel runways (3,750 m in length each) were built and the airport had a capacity of 30 million passengers and 1.7 million tonnes of goods per year. As a result of the dynamic development of the market, the government of South Korea has implemented further development stages. In 2019, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak, Incheon handled more than 71 million passengers and 2.7 million tonnes of goods.
In the first stage, Solidarity Airport will have two runways, each 4,000 m long, and will be the largest airport in Central and Eastern Europe. In the airport part, the investment is at the stage of advanced environmental and field studies, preparation of the Master Plan and real estate purchase, whereas in the railway part, design feasibility studies are being carried out.
