State Railway of Thailand to push ahead "Makasan Complex" mega-project

BANGKOK, 18 February 2013 (NNT) - Governor of the State Railway of Thailand (SRT) Prapat Chongsanguan said that the SRT's mega-investment project Makasan Complex is set to go ahead.

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Mr Prapat said that the SRT management is discussing with the SRT board regarding the Terms of Reference (TOR) for the auction to find the developer of the project. The terms of reference are expected to be published in the next 1-2 months.

The SRT Governor said the Chairman of SRT board, who is also the current Dean of Chulalongkorn University's engineering department, has extensive experience in property maanagement, having managed Chulalongkorn University's properties and overseen the university's contract with the MBK shopping center.

The Makasan Complex project is a project to turn the area around Makasan train station into an important income source for the SRT, by turning it into a commercial area. The project will require an investment of approximately 200 billion baht, according to the SRT Governor.

The Governor also said that preliminary considerations suggested that the SRT should rent its land to suitable developers for the duration of 30 years, with an option to renew it for another 30 years if the SRT deems it suitable then.

-- NNT 2013-02-18

Good news again !!!..Maybe another major MBK shopping mall on the way for Makasan......just what it needs!!

Wow! Bangkok needs more shopping areas for the Central Group and CP Group to rake in a higher percentage of Thailand's money stream.

Surely money would be better spent by the SRT building better rail infrastructure rather than shopping malls on their land to fill the pockets of greedy politicians and executives?

why did I think this may be about improving the rail connections?

I live off Chaeng Watthana and now I can drive all the way to Swampy more quickly than I can get to the Makasan station. This will only make it worse.

This is a pure show of corruption and capitalism...

200 billion my ass. If it is approved you will see so many If they improve their system and trains more people will use it. If it is approved you will see so many politicians and executives in the stores looking to buy the largest suit cases available.

Hope they employ an international firm to over see the legal payments.

In 2 months allot more terms of this Mega complex will be discussed. With 200 Billion it could change the whole Makasan area completely! this will take a decade to implement..

Logical expansion program, seeing the airport express is such a great success.

Well they've got to do something with the Makasan train station. At the moment it's just a big empty monolith..... a joke.... a total embarrassment for those who proposed.

I wonder if we will see the blood-soaked hands of Thaksin in this monstrosity.

Surely money would be better spent by the SRT building better rail infrastructure rather than shopping malls on their land to fill the pockets of greedy politicians and executives?

It seems they aren't going to make the investment. They're going to invite developers to do so.by offering the land to lease

Wow! Bangkok needs more shopping areas for the Central Group and CP Group to rake in a higher percentage of Thailand's money stream.

Pity they can't run a railway

Logical expansion program, seeing the airport express is such a great success.

Indeed, perhaps they could consider paying back the billions upon billions of Baht the airport express, the BTS and the MRT owe?

Well they've got to do something with the Makasan train station. At the moment it's just a big empty monolith..... a joke.... a total embarrassment for those who proposed.

a behemoth, rather

Surely money would be better spent by the SRT building better rail infrastructure rather than shopping malls on their land to fill the pockets of greedy politicians and executives?

It seems they aren't going to make the investment. They're going to invite developers to do so.by offering the land to lease

They need the initial B200 Billion to make the land suitable first.

Here is a development plan for the area I saw some years back. Impressive!

How incredibly stupid. They want to build a "complex" at an area called Asok which is now, arguably, the most congested traffic area in Bangkok.

In 2 months allot more terms of this Mega complex will be discussed. With 200 Billion it could change the whole Makasan area completely! this will take a decade to implement..

It won't change the area much. Remember the SRT belongs to the government, which is why the budget is so high. 35% will go direct to PTP politicians, who won't even make an effort to hide their theft. If someone objects, DPM Chalerm will say it's a cultural thing and that will be the end of the discussion. Another 35% will disappear indirectly through the contractors, all of whom will be closely associated with PTP politicians, the last 30% may or may not end up as some poorly constructed and poorly planned mega complex.

You are right about the timeframe though :-)

Maybe they should start by constructiog an underground walkway from the Airport Link station to the MRT station. Then it would really be a link as they so fondly call it.

They never cease to amaze me with their ignorance, stupidity and irresponsibility. The SRT is a joke.

Does the "boss" know anything about trains, train networks and rail systems? Does he ever travel travel by train? Maybe if he did, he might see the mess!

200 billion baht could be spent on improving the SRT system throughout the country rather than on another useless "complex".

TIT!!

This is probably one of the last opportunities to create some meaningful green space in the centre of the city, and I genuinely fear we're going to end up with concrete and a few token trees and patches of grass. This area currently has some beautiful trees and has the potential to be a jewel in the heart of the city. If this goes, all we'll be left with are the areas under expressways; hardly parkland by any other city's definition.

....200 billion here..........300 billion there........

(....for the good of the country.....and the average person.......for sure....)

is it going to be the same as Platinum Fashion Mall and Palladium and Grand Diamond and Shibuya shopping Malls (around the Pratunam area) ??

- (ie: hundreds and hundreds of Tiny fashion shops, all about the size of a shoe-box).

if so, then this is crazy!

I have already heard from local shop owners (in the bayoke/platinum small sois, that ALL of the old market sois (around pratunam rajaparop) are being pulled down to make another fashion-mall complex.

if there is to be a new shopping centre,,, then PLEASE DONT DO IT IN THE STYLE OF PLATINUM FASHION MALL !!!

do something creative like terminal 21 or something.

What a wonderful flash of genius! I mean, after the utter misinvestment of god knows how many hundreds of millions of baht for an absolutely useless, cavernous mega station that at all times is practically deserted (because the city airport check-in concept has failed miserably - just as it was to be expected!), the next best idea is to burn a further couple of BILLION baht to develop yet another superfluous shopping complex in one of the city's most traffic-congested areas in order to somehow pull the waggon out of the muck. Good luck with that!

It is about high time that this SRT is privatised, so the future operator will hopefully be a little bit more careful on what and how they waste their funds.

At that price I thought this would be about a high speed train to Chiangmai or the south but instead it is about the worlds worst train system that now has the worlds best shopping center..

Well the SRT have proved that they cannot run a railway so they seem to be moving relentlessly towards becoming a property company (SPT). The are owners of large chunks of property in Bangkok (e.g. Chatuchak market) from which they get a poor return so this is not surprising.

Quite honestly, the Makassan area is a total disaster traffic-wise so any development is not going to make it any worse.

If this development is such a commercially attractive idea, why not let the developer put up the money in return for cheap rent for a fixed period. Then instead of waiting 20 or 30 years for a possible return of capital, they could use it NOW to improve the rail system for the rural people of Thailand.

It is nice that the chairman is astute in property management. Do they have anybody with knowledge of railways?

200 Billion for what?