Thai Govt To Go Ahead With 2.2 Trillion Baht Infrastructure Facelift

[webfact]

Govt to go ahead with 2.2 trillion baht infrastructure facelift

BANGKOK, 7 February 2013 (NNT) - After the economic ministers approved three strategies for the nation's mega infrastructure development, the Transport Minister said the facelift will increase connectivity between Thailand and its neighbors and stabilize the transportation system.

The economic ministers agreed to go ahead with the 2.2-trillion-baht plan to facelift the Thai infrastructures, to prepare the nation for the ASEAN Economic Community in 2015. Transport Minister Chatchat Sitthipan stated the plan is divided into three strategies: regional connectivity, sustainable transportation system, and flexibility of transportation to principal cities in all regions.

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Mr Chatchat said the three strategies will be conducted under four aspects, including environmental friendliness, competitiveness, income distribution, and transparency. He said the details of the entire project will be concluded within a month and will be proposed to the parliament in time for the next session.

Mr Chatchat revealed that the Finance Ministry has suggested that the funds for the construction should be sought domestically as getting funds abroad risks currency fluctuation and high interest rates. He added the government will not borrow the entire 2.2 trillion baht at one time, but will possibly borrow around 300 billion baht per year.

In addition, the Transport Minister stated that, during the recent visit by French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault, the delegates expressed their interests in joining the bidding for the high speed rail system in Thailand. Mr Chatchat said the government will conduct the auction with transparency to ensure it will be fair for all bidding nations.

-- NNT 2013-02-07

[bigbamboo]

With all that money sloshing around thank goodness there will be a Thai government minister on hand to ensure everything is fair and above board.

[culicine]

Nice to see they got their priorities straight...meanwhile the educational system and schools are in disarray...

[ChrisY1]

Again....no doubt a rush on Cayman banks for new accounts.....This'll be better than the lottery for some!!

[BlackJack]

time to invest in Thailand

[dcutman]

Has there ever been, any time in Thai history, a govt project not totally burdened with corruption? Just asking because every govt project I searched all had the same problems. Many have not been finished because of it. I recall, I think last year the German govt seized a Royal aircraft.

Edited February 7, 2013 by dcutman

[Melyn]

By my maths that's roughly one years income (2011)

And expenditure then (2011) was roughly 20% higher than income

[Locationthailand]

There will be a lot of salivating and hand rubbing over this announcement. If the usual 30% gets moved, there could be some serious 'unusual wealth' queries from the DSI in say - oh - 50 years from now...?

[siampolee]

There will be a lot of salivating and hand rubbing over this announcement. If the usual 30% gets moved, there could be some serious 'unusual wealth' queries from the DSI in say - oh - 50 years from now...?

Locationthailand,

I think your comment reads more truthfully as it is below, been here many a year and the result is always the same, makes one cynical you know.

There could be some serious unusual poverty queries from the man in the street in say - oh - 5 years from now when the loans are being repaid by the little people and the big people are living in luxury on the '' commission '' they received for assorted projects and services.

[Rancid]

Was there ever any doubt that it would go ahead?

[toenail]

Sad when one lives in LOS you realize how every government project has an "inflated" price tag with all the pocketing of money under the table. Where some of the infrastructure projects should cost less than in Europe, it ends up costing more (including when time and durability is included in). Things should be cheaper and still reach a certain standard of good quality. (look at the airport, or highway projects)

[MaxLee]

FACE...LIFT

You know what I'm referring to, right????

[OzMick]

Will the auction for the HSR be for the total price or for the kickback percentage?

It seems this project was full-steam ahead from Day 1, and there still has been no feasibility study presented to parliament. It seems this country is run by a council of Thaksin-selected criminals autocrats and the parliament is merely a facade of democracy for the gullible, and hardly worth visiting for the "important" people.

[webfact]

UPDATE:

Minister support 'no bribe' agreement

THE NATION

Chadchart welcomes scrutiny of Bt2.27-tn construction investment; backs anti-graft group's proposal

BANGKOK: -- Transport Minister Chadchart Sittipunt yesterday supported a proposal that those involved in state construction projects be required to sign an "agreement of virtue" promising not to accept or offer bribes, in a bid to push forward the government's Bt2.27-trillion infrastructure investment plan.

The minister, who has oversight of the huge infrastructure investment and its annual budget of about Bt100 billion, said the Anti-Corruption Organisation of Thailand (ACT) proposal, aimed at preventing bid fixing, would be applied to all projects under his ministry's responsibility.

"The ACT proposal is good. I like it. And I believe the officials involved will be happy to have more people help them with the scrutiny," he said after meeting ACT representatives at the Stock Exchange of Thailand.

Among the pilot projects implemented under the anti-graft campaign's proposal would be the Bt13-billion procurement of 3,183 buses for the Bangkok Mass Transit Authority, the construction of a second phase of the Suvarnabhumi Airport worth Bt50 billion-Bt60 billion, and the expansion of the motorway, according to the transport minister.

Transport Ministry permanent secretary Wichean Potephosri was assigned to study the proposed "agreement of virtue" in detail to ensure it complied with the law and to determine whether it would be legally binding, according to Chadchart. The results of the study are expected within a month.

"This proposal will be applied at the Transport Ministry first. If it works well, the Cabinet will be asked to have other state agencies adopt it as well," the transport minister said.

Chadchart said the main forms of irregularity involving bidding for government projects are:

nsetting high median prices to allow the winner to make high profits and pay kickbacks;

nsetting the specifications in such a way that only certain bidders are qualified; and

nallowing work of poor quality to pass in exchange for bribes.

ACT chairman Pramon Sutivong said yesterday that his group's proposal calls for both state agencies that own projects and private firms who bid for the projects to sign an agreement that they would not take or offer bribes.

"Anyone who refuses to sign the agreement will not be allowed to bid. Those who violate the agreement's terms will face legal action," he said.

The anti-graft campaign will discuss the proposal with Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Kittiratt Na-Ranong today(Feb 8) and plans to ask the Cabinet to apply the proposal to all ministries as a measure to ensure transparent bidding on government projects, according to Pramon.

He praised the transport minister for agreeing to the ACT proposal.

"The Transport Ministry is a major agency that actually spends the budget [for construction projects]. This will be an important turning point" in the fight against corruption, he said.

In addition to the "agreement of virtue", the ACT called on the government to make the anti-corruption fight a national priority, to allow independent observers to monitor all stages of bidding, and to appoint the group's representatives to the Transport Ministry's Centre Against Corruption to help with the scrutiny.

The ACT vowed to closely monitor implementation of the Bt2.27-trillion investment plan.

According to a Global Financial Integrity report released in mid-December, an average of US$6.42 billion (Bt192.6 billion) a year illegally flowed out of Thailand between 2001 and 2010. A large portion of this was believed to have been earned through corruption. Thailand ranked 13th in terms of the outflow size among the 143 developing countries studied.

-- The Nation 2013-02-08

[chiang mai]

Now write fifty times, I wll not accept bribes.

[dcutman]

Dont Ministers do something like this already? I think it is called the oath of office.

[steveyinasia]

"... income distribution..." with 2.2 trillion baht I bet there is going to be a lot of income distribution amongst the pollies.

[Locationthailand]

There will be a lot of salivating and hand rubbing over this announcement. If the usual 30% gets moved, there could be some serious 'unusual wealth' queries from the DSI in say - oh - 50 years from now...?

Locationthailand,

I think your comment reads more truthfully as it is below, been here many a year and the result is always the same, makes one cynical you know.

There could be some serious unusual poverty queries from the man in the street in say - oh - 5 years from now when the loans are being repaid by the little people and the big people are living in luxury on the '' commission '' they received for assorted projects and services.

After dealing with quite a few govt departments here - over more than the last decade, certain areas are simply +30%. Others are "the last 10% will never be paid". You factor in the cost and add it to win the contract. Even if the contract is well above others - you win simply because you pay more! Every international construction company in Thailand knows this and have paid for decades. It just gets lost in the system, with ticks and stamps. The fronts like DSI are simply departments put in place that, even though they are aware, simply don't do anything about it! And when they are about to they announce in all the media giving time for the corrupt 'officials' to get their houses in order, resign or close them out. It simply continues.

[Tanaka]

By the time they are ready to start the actual facelift, there will be about one million Baht left to do it. There will be a lot of new cars parked around government buildings and many new condos and houses being bought and built by the same officials.

[transam]

They've had a whip round then.

[scotto]

And the poor are the ones who voted them in and will pay

in the end!

Oh but they get 1 or 2thousand baht to vote?

whilst the pollies get billions to be divided between themselves

when are the people going to wake up?

[MaxLee]

It's called FACE...LIFT for a reason, because the more promises those government agencies are making, the higher they LIFT their FACE-value

We all know where the money is going to anyways???

[transam]

And the poor are the ones who voted them in and will pay

in the end!

Oh but they get 1 or 2thousand baht to vote?

whilst the pollies get billions to be divided between themselves

when are the people going to wake up?

No such thing as waking up here, 1/2000 bht is a lot of money to many. And NO ma and pa really knows or cares what goes on.

[Bagwan]

There will be a lot of salivating and hand rubbing over this announcement. If the usual 30% gets moved, there could be some serious 'unusual wealth' queries from the DSI in say - oh - 50 years from now...?

And as a result a lot more spoiled brats running around in flash cars exceeding speed limits and doing impersonations of James (The Shunt) Hunt. If any of these prospective speedsters kill themselves would it not be appropriate that during the cremation rites they were bathed with a gallon of Duckham's finest?.

[Thereisnoif]

I can already name the future bid winners , and guess what : they are all Thai companies.

[Bagwan]

The OP states that 300 billion will be borrowed on a year by year basis yet the Minister states the annual budget will be 100 Billion. The Swiss banks must be rubbing their hands together already.

[Buchholz]

Minister support 'no bribe' agreement

BANGKOK: -- Transport Minister Chadchart Sittipunt yesterday supported a proposal that those involved in state construction projects be required to sign an "agreement of virtue" promising not to accept or offer bribes

.

Transport Minister Chadchart Sittipunt

Chadchart insists infrastructure mega projects will be graft-free

BANGKOK, 14 March 2013 (NNT) - Transport Minister Chadchart Sittipunt has insisted that the government’s 2.2 Trillion Baht infrastructural and transport investment plan will be free of corruption.

Chadchart explained that he held talks with the Anti-Corruption Organization of Thailand (ACT) along with other agencies on Thursday, in order to outline measures to ensure transparency and accountability in government spending on this massive project.

ACT members previously called on authorities to compel participants in the mega projects to sign integrity pacts committing to good governance and transparency.

The statement came after a call by the opposition Democrat Party for stringent implementation of laws against graft, and for effective management of the 2.2 Trillion Baht budget.

Opposition leader and former Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said the party is considering petitioning the Constitution Court for a ruling on whether the government's bill to acquire 2.2 Trillion Baht in loans complies with existing law.

-- NNT 2103-03-14

[A_Traveller]

Chadchart confirms another triumph for Thai porcine aviation.