K-water of the Republic of Korea has been selected as a priority negotiation partner by the Thai government on its integrated water management project. The specific areas for which K-water has been chosen are two: water prevention routes & water detention centers, which account for 56% of the entire project worth KRW 6.2 trillion.

The Water Resources and Flood Management Commission of Thailand announced the list of its shortlisted candidates as priority negotiation partners on June 10, 2013, based on an assessment of technical proposals for the water management project on nine specific sub-areas.

Other chosen candidates include a Thai-Chinese consortium that was chosen for five areas, a Thai consortium for one area, and a Thai-Swiss consortium for one area.

The shortlisted list of candidates has been drawn based on a number of assessment rounds, starting from a tender announcement made in July 2012, prequalification assessments conducted in September of that year, and in May this year, submission of final proposals and assessments were started.

Korea's Prime Minister Jung Hong-won has been hard at work to make this project a great opportunity for Korean enterprises. His visit to Thailand this year in May included a meeting with the Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, an occasion at which he took an active role in raising awareness on the world-class technical know-how of Korean companies in the area of water management.

The WFMC will soon start price negotiations with the priority partners with a goal of finalizing the whole tender process by the end of this June, which will end with an announcement of the final winners.