Brazil’s wealthiest man and head of the Brazilian holding company EBX has reportedly shown interest in South Korea’s participation in a bid for a high-speed railway construction project in Brazil.

A Brazilian economic daily said Wednesday that Eike Batista, who is also the eighth richest person in the world, expressed such an interest recently.

South Korea is competing with China, Japan, Germany and France for the rights to the railway project.

Brazil plans to spend 19 billion dollars to build a 511-kilometer high-speed railway that would link Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo and Campinas. Brazil was planning to begin this month the process of selecting the final bidder but delayed the plan to April in a bid to draw more participants.