Transport minister seeks review of terms on airport rail link

By THE NATION

 

File Photo by BangkokBizNews

 

Transport Minister Saksayam Chidchob has written to State Railway of Thailand (SRT)’s acting governor Worawut Mala asking him to review the terms of reference (ToR) for the high-speed rail linking the three key airports in the Central region, namely Don Mueang, Suvarnabhumi and U-Tapao. 

 

Meanwhile, a joint venture agreement between the government and the private sector on the high-speed railway has been drafted. 

 

“The high-speed rail project connecting the three airports will be the first Eastern Economic Corridor [EEC] project that has a contract signed between the government and the private sector,” Saksayam said. 

 

Thus far, the Transport Ministry has been involved in four key projects in the EEC, including the construction of the high-speed rail, aircraft maintenance, a repair and overhaul centre in U-Tapao Airport and developing the airport for commercial use.

 

Meanwhile, details of the joint venture between the government, the CP Group and its partners have been finalised, Worawut said, though he has yet to receive a formal request for details of the ToR from Saksayam. 

 

“Once the request arrives, we have prepared relevant details to report to the Transport Ministry,” Worawut said.

 

A source in the SRT revealed that CP will take about two weeks to review the joint-venture details before the appointment of the investment committee for the high-speed rail project will commence. 

 

The value of the high-speed rail is projected at Bt224 billion, with Bt168 billion going to trains, Bt45.1 billion to land development for the rail project and Bt10 billion to the development of the airport link. The project is expected to yield economic benefits worth Bt700 billion.

 

Source: https://www.nationthailand.com/business/30375441

 

-- © Copyright The Nation Thailand 2019-08-27

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Would certainly like to see a review of the ToR because they were changed before the project was awarded, not really sticking to the rules for such big projects.

20 minutes ago, Classic Ray said:

Would certainly like to see a review of the ToR because they were changed before the project was awarded, not really sticking to the rules for such big projects.

call me a cynic .. but it could also be a shakedown. I mean new negotiations mean new brown envelopes. Still lets give the guy the benefit of the doubt if he does get better conditions then he did his job. 

Quote:-

"joint venture between the government, the CP Group and its partners"

Maybe I am wrong, but didn't CP Group miss out on this project due to traffic jams in Bangkok??

3 hours ago, robblok said:

call me a cynic .. but it could also be a shakedown. I mean new negotiations mean new brown envelopes. Still lets give the guy the benefit of the doubt if he does get better conditions then he did his job. 

Prayut had invoked Article 44 to launch this project that shutdown all procurement transparency and accountability laws and regulations, and exempted all applicable anti-corruption laws.

How can reviewing the TOR for the project now by the "new" government result in any more corruption? If anything, it's more a rebalancing of any prior corruption.

2 minutes ago, Srikcir said:

Prayut had invoked Article 44 to launch this project that shutdown all procurement transparency and accountability laws and regulations, and exempted all applicable anti-corruption laws.

How can reviewing the TOR for the project now by the "new" government result in any more corruption? If anything, it's more a rebalancing of any prior corruption.

It can mean more corruption IF the terms get worse.. if they get better there is of course no more new corruption (or at least it would be stupid for those involved to pay and get worse results)