Chadchart: Infrastructure projects could be delayed with dropping of 2 trillion baht loan bill

[webfact]

Transport minister says infrastructure projects could be delayed with dropping of 2 trillion baht loan bill

BANGKOK, 13 March 2014 (NNT) – Transport Minister Chatchart Sitthiphan indicated on Wednesday the government would comply with the ruling by the Constitution Court, which determined the 2 trillion baht infrastructure loan bill to be unconstitutional.

Minister Chatchart admitted that the national strategy involving transportation development projects would likely be delayed, even though the Ministry of Transport would continue to push ahead with its 53 projects. He said the incoming administration would be able to procure budget for the projects by either issuing a public debt bill, utilizing deficit budget, or taking out 'economy stimulation' loans.

According to Prime Minister's Office Minister Warathep Rattanakorn, the government will study the ruling by the Constitution Court, although he personally believes the government need not take responsibility for the loan bill being dropped by the court, because the bill did receive approval by Parliament.

Meanwhile, Education Minister Chaturon Chaisaeng made Facebook posts asserting that there are 3 problematic issues with the Constitution Court's verdict. The court may be interfering with the work of the legislative branch, because rulings on such an issue should be made by Parliament and not by the court. The court may also be interfering with the work of the executive branch, in making decisions about what projects should be undertaken. Finally, the court's verdict may contradict its earlier ruling that deemed the issuance of a loan bill for the Thai Khem Khaeng initiative, under the Democrat administration, constitutional.


-- NNT 2014-03-13

[seajae]

so the ptp are now saying they will still start the projects this money was meant to pay for but any new govt wouold be able to procure the funds needed without any problems. This kind of shoots the ptp in the foot, if this is the case what was the real reason for the loan then, what did they want to do with all that money and why didnt they want to have to declare what they were doing with it. It appears that the loan was NOT needed to do the work they were claiming, looks more and more like a slush fund for them and their boss.

[Gunna]

Any delay to stop PT getting it's grubby hands on 2tn baht is worthwhile

[rubl]

Maybe the caretaker Minister of Transportation could indicate which parts of the 2.2 trillion infrastructure projects should normally be in the yearly National Budget? Like the double tracking which was planned and worked on for completion after 2017 or so.

Furthermore the caretaker Minister of Education should stick to his ministry and explain the current status of the tabletPC projects and give an accurate account of the money spent.

BTW the caretaker Minister of Commerce said two days ago he would respect the ruling which at that moment wasn't known yet. Even the Pheu Thai spokesperson Prompong said today that the Pheu Thai party and the government accept the ruling. So why all those comments on what's wrong with the ruling?

[smedly]

it is well beyond understanding, and the education minister I'd have thought would at least need some level of education - it appears he doesn't

[chainarong]

The infrastructure projects were a pipe dream thought up by desperate idiots in desperate times , the PTP type of government is we do what we want , we don't care in others opinions and to buggery with the rules, we are the government we are the land ,Under the rules of a Democracy, as much as you don't want to hear this , you are not , you are an employee of the people and the people are the law , you carry out the task of government within that law, in short , you are a servant of the people, go suck on that PTP.

[Artisi]

Great news, now the followers of the camel herder can't get their grubby little hands onto the Bht 2 trillion to cream off as much as they like when they like also while side-tracking the normal consultancy fee o/seas - which of course would be expected and probably a minimum of double the normal fee.

[fstarbkk]

"The court may also be interfering with the work of the executive branch..."

Doesn't it show complete disregard for the checks and balances of a democratic system, to brand the work of the judicial branch as interference with their sacred mission???

[notmyself]

So some of the 2T has already been spent insofar that there is money owed?

[Sydebolle]

Well, what do you know? I come from a country where you can get a referendum on moving a tram station from A) to which costs a minuscule fraction of this. I am surprised over the authority of such incompetent corrupt crooks deciding on the fate of this country's debts for the next 50 years. Good luck this country has a quite apparently functional constitutional court and the deal did not got unnoticed.
Spend 1% on this on proper education and - in one or two generations from now - Thailand might have arrived at the 21st century. Welcome to AEC too, albeit later than all the others but better late than never!

[PepperMe]

Meanwhile, Education Minister Chaturon Chaisaeng made Facebook posts asserting that there are 3 problematic issues with the Constitution Court's verdict.

Who the hell made this total incompetent an 'education minister'??

The court may be interfering with the work of the legislative branch, because rulings on such an issue should be made by Parliament and not by the court.

Rulings are NOT made by parliament, bills are suggested, debated and voted on. What you are saying that no matter how illegal and unconstitutional it is, and the procedures illegal, the government has absolute impunity to do what they want regardless of the constitution???.... Yo are so wrong.

The court may also be interfering with the work of the executive branch, in making decisions about what projects should be undertaken.

No, the decisions by the C-Courts have nothing to do with the projects and everything to do with a very dodgy 2.2 trillion loan bill.

Finally, the court's verdict may contradict its earlier ruling that deemed the issuance of a loan bill for the Thai Khem Khaeng initiative, under the Democrat administration, constitutional.

I think you will find that the Dems' 1.4 trillion loan bill was done with the utmost transparency, with full details of all financial disbursements and projects etc... The vote was not in the middle of the night, the bill was not to be a total secret devoid of all checks and balances and the voting MPs did not vote several times.... completely different to the way the Thaksin regime insisted on conducting business.

This stupid little man should be impeached immediately if not for deriding the constitutional court's ruling... then for just being a total and complete incompetent idiot!

Hey red Thaksin loving mob..... You actually throw your support behind these people?.... have you any idea???????

[Scamper]

As the minister of transport responds to the Constitutional Court ruling - on facebook ! - it's clear he hasn't the slightest clue if he says that this was an executive action on the part of Pheu Thai. One wonders how Pheu Thai have ever circumvented the legal system with such thinking. In any event, due to the Constitutional Court's ruling, the way is now open for impeachment proceedings. He can respond to that through facebook if he likes.

[englishoak]

Who cares

[Thai at Heart]

Is this guy an idiot? They can't even borrow money to pay the farmers, they are officially an interim govt, there is no sitting parliament and Yingluck is up on derliction of duty charges.

They are all about one step away from ending up in jail, let alone planning the next steps in the infrastructure project.

[fab4]

Maybe the caretaker Minister of Transportation could indicate which parts of the 2.2 trillion infrastructure projects should normally be in the yearly National Budget? Like the double tracking which was planned and worked on for completion after 2017 or so.

Furthermore the caretaker Minister of Education should stick to his ministry and explain the current status of the tabletPC projects and give an accurate account of the money spent.

BTW the caretaker Minister of Commerce said two days ago he would respect the ruling which at that moment wasn't known yet. Even the Pheu Thai spokesperson Prompong said today that the Pheu Thai party and the government accept the ruling. So why all those comments on what's wrong with the ruling?

Because they know the ruling to be wrong for the reasons stated but they also know that the Constitution Court is becoming synonymous with decisions that defy logic and to argue at this stage is pointless as it falls into the judicial coup territory.

Example: declare that the government were overthrowing the democratic regime of government with the King as the Head of State when amending the constitution wrt the election of Senators.

What's wrong?

Firstly, the government were amending the constitution in line with guidelines issued by the Constitution Court. Secondly, if we accept the ridiculous notion that amending the constitution is overthrowing the democratic regime of government, surely that is treasonous (unless your name is suthep, apparently) and the perpretrators should be dealt with accordingly.

And the CC's action on that - nothing, nada, zilch.

How can anyone take them seriously?

[Benmart]

Who cares

Those that do. You may now return to your beverage.

[wprime]

Any delay to stop PT getting it's grubby hands on 2tn baht is worthwhile

You may it sound like PTP just borrow money to keep it for themselves, a lot of it goes into the economy too, of the billions spent on the rice scheme, over 20% went to farmers, and much of the remainder would have been spent on luxury holidays, nice cars, etc - many in Thailand which in turn would trickle down into the local economies.

[tomacht8]

Meanwhile, Education Minister Chaturon Chaisaeng made Facebook posts asserting that there are 3 problematic issues with the Constitution Court's verdict.

Who the hell made this total incompetent an 'education minister'??

The court may be interfering with the work of the legislative branch, because rulings on such an issue should be made by Parliament and not by the court.

Rulings are NOT made by parliament, bills are suggested, debated and voted on. What you are saying that no matter how illegal and unconstitutional it is, and the procedures illegal, the government has absolute impunity to do what they want regardless of the constitution???.... Yo are so wrong.

The court may also be interfering with the work of the executive branch, in making decisions about what projects should be undertaken.

No, the decisions by the C-Courts have nothing to do with the projects and everything to do with a very dodgy 2.2 trillion loan bill.

Finally, the court's verdict may contradict its earlier ruling that deemed the issuance of a loan bill for the Thai Khem Khaeng initiative, under the Democrat administration, constitutional.

I think you will find that the Dems' 1.4 trillion loan bill was done with the utmost transparency, with full details of all financial disbursements and projects etc... The vote was not in the middle of the night, the bill was not to be a total secret devoid of all checks and balances and the voting MPs did not vote several times.... completely different to the way the Thaksin regime insisted on conducting business.

This stupid little man should be impeached immediately if not for deriding the constitutional court's ruling... then for just being a total and complete incompetent idiot!

Hey red Thaksin loving mob..... You actually throw your support behind these people?.... have you any idea???????

I think this Education Minister is not up to Taksins standard.

[northernjohn]

Unbelievable.

2.2 trillion baht with out one single study to show the value or need for it.

Along comes a clown who says it is against the constitution for the constitutional court to rule against it. Just the fact that they the PTP might not be here in a month to pay for it much less the 50 years that they propose to indebt their grandchildren for is enough to put a stop to it.

[rubl]

Maybe the caretaker Minister of Transportation could indicate which parts of the 2.2 trillion infrastructure projects should normally be in the yearly National Budget? Like the double tracking which was planned and worked on for completion after 2017 or so.

Furthermore the caretaker Minister of Education should stick to his ministry and explain the current status of the tabletPC projects and give an accurate account of the money spent.

BTW the caretaker Minister of Commerce said two days ago he would respect the ruling which at that moment wasn't known yet. Even the Pheu Thai spokesperson Prompong said today that the Pheu Thai party and the government accept the ruling. So why all those comments on what's wrong with the ruling?

Because they know the ruling to be wrong for the reasons stated but they also know that the Constitution Court is becoming synonymous with decisions that defy logic and to argue at this stage is pointless as it falls into the judicial coup territory.

Example: declare that the government were overthrowing the democratic regime of government with the King as the Head of State when amending the constitution wrt the election of Senators.

What's wrong?

Firstly, the government were amending the constitution in line with guidelines issued by the Constitution Court. Secondly, if we accept the ridiculous notion that amending the constitution is overthrowing the democratic regime of government, surely that is treasonous (unless your name is suthep, apparently) and the perpretrators should be dealt with accordingly.

And the CC's action on that - nothing, nada, zilch.

How can anyone take them seriously?

So, we respect the ruling, but we do not really?

BTW democratic government? You mean the Yingluck government which after the vote count in July 2011 said "thank you, go home we have a mandate"? The Yingluck government which tried to push through a blanket amnesty bill which even absolved the first two years of Yingluck? The Yingluck government which has transparency on it's agenda and cannot explain where 700++ billion Baht was lost? The Yingluck government which is controlled and ordered around by that criminal fugitive abroad. That democratic government you mean?

How anyone can even call them democratic is beyond me.

[indyuk]

The infrastructure projects were a pipe dream thought up by desperate idiots in desperate times , the PTP type of government is we do what we want , we don't care in others opinions and to buggery with the rules, we are the government we are the land ,Under the rules of a Democracy, as much as you don't want to hear this , you are not , you are an employee of the people and the people are the law , you carry out the task of government within that law, in short , you are a servant of the people, go suck on that PTP.

Actually 'chainarong' you may be wrong on this occasion for these reasons.

The proposed infrastructure is not a pipe dream any more than the friendship roads were. The fact is that Thailand's infrastructure is not adequate to attain a sufficient rate of economic growth into the future to meet the needs of it's people.

The PTP have not appeared to be bombastic or unreasonable to date. They had a mandate and they followed it. If we don't like it we are supposed to wait until the next scheduled election and then to refine our voting strategy.

Indeed the people are the Law. Back then they did not expect Abhisit or the Thai Army to insist on influencing Thai Law to suit the military's whim. The the people also rely on the Judiciary to implement the Law and the appended legislation in good faith That however is a responsibility that the Thai judiciary seem to consider to be rather malleable.

Yes of course the government are employed by the people, discerning people, who heard Yingluck's proposals and then voted for them in a general election.

In summary I have to say that your view, as you express it herein, smacks of traditional Thai 'Democrat' theory and thinking. If the Democrats of Thailand don't reform they will never be successful for Thailand again, and that dear sir is a crying shame.

​It's all kind of ironic because Suthep is pursuing that very same lost Democrat cause, may God help you all if ever your loveable Suthep comes to power in Thailand.

[Crushdepth]

Genius at work. Put your loan bill through the standard Parliamentary procedure next time you retard. For extra points try not to steal anything.

Sent from somewhere in the Pacific

Edited March 14, 2014 by Crushdepth

[billd766]

Maybe the caretaker Minister of Transportation could indicate which parts of the 2.2 trillion infrastructure projects should normally be in the yearly National Budget? Like the double tracking which was planned and worked on for completion after 2017 or so.

Furthermore the caretaker Minister of Education should stick to his ministry and explain the current status of the tabletPC projects and give an accurate account of the money spent.

BTW the caretaker Minister of Commerce said two days ago he would respect the ruling which at that moment wasn't known yet. Even the Pheu Thai spokesperson Prompong said today that the Pheu Thai party and the government accept the ruling. So why all those comments on what's wrong with the ruling?

Because they know the ruling to be wrong for the reasons stated but they also know that the Constitution Court is becoming synonymous with decisions that defy logic and to argue at this stage is pointless as it falls into the judicial coup territory.

Example: declare that the government were overthrowing the democratic regime of government with the King as the Head of State when amending the constitution wrt the election of Senators.

What's wrong?

Firstly, the government were amending the constitution in line with guidelines issued by the Constitution Court. Secondly, if we accept the ridiculous notion that amending the constitution is overthrowing the democratic regime of government, surely that is treasonous (unless your name is suthep, apparently) and the perpretrators should be dealt with accordingly.

And the CC's action on that - nothing, nada, zilch.

How can anyone take them seriously?

Poor try at diverting the post. Please stick to the subject matter at hand.

[mikemac]

Poor try at diverting the post. Please stick to the subject matter at hand.

His modus operandi...............................

[JRSoul]

Here's a novel suggestion - stop the rice scam and use the B300+ billion saved each year. After 7 years the infrastructure upgrade is complete without another 50 years of debt repayment.