That right there is complete, unadulterated bullshit. The cost of getting a pound of supplies to Antarctica is several orders of magnitude cheaper than getting a pound of supplies even as far as orbit, let alone Mars. And Antarctica is a much less hostile environment (breathable atmosphere, for one).
That line alone tells me this isn't remotely a well-thought-out, plausible venture.
Also, if you look at the context of the quote, you can see that they're making an analogy:
Living there [Mars] is comparable to getting by on Antarctica, and provides
similar challenges. However, the South Pole now has a number of very advanced,
large research stations that boast a great deal of modern facilities that provide
a good quality of life. These looked very different 50 years ago. The Mars
settlement will develop in the same way.* Internal combustion engines work in Antarctica.
* The atmosphere is breathable.
* The atmosphere is livable if heated first.
* The gravity is the same as Earth.
* (I'm guessing) more sunlight falls on a given area of Antarctica per year than Mars.
* There's no communication delay with Earth.
* Earth-orbit communications satellites are reachable from Antarctica.
* The ground is covered in water, if you heat it first (I don't know how useful this is, but it's probably more useful than Mars soil)
and finally:
You can come home from Antarctica.