Transport, water projects biggest challenge before junta: Thailand

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Transport, water projects biggest challenge before junta
Sasithorn Ongdee
The Nation

BANGKOK: -- Massive investments in transport and water management projects as well as energy-price restructuring are still the toughest tasks awaiting the junta's consideration at Thursday's meeting to point which way the country should go as part of its economic roadmap.

Whether infrastructure projects should proceed with a huge investment of Bt3 trillion, which is even more than the Bt2-trillion infrastructure plan proposed by the Yingluck Shinawatra government that was capsized by the coup, will possibly become clear this week.

After last week's meeting of the Office of Transport and Traffic Policy and Planning, the agency is expected to propose its Bt3-trillion infrastructure plan focusing on transport projects - minus high-speed trains - to the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO). The plan reportedly runs for eight years to 2022.

Some industry observers said the plan should not cost Bt3 trillion as there are no high-speed trains, which represented a large chunk - Bt800 billion - of the previous Bt2-trillion package.

A Bt4-billion module of the Bt350-billion water management project - a data centre for weather forecasting and disaster warnings - is high likely to be given first priority while the eight other modules might be put on hold.

Last Thursday, the junta led by NCPO chief General Prayuth Chan-ocha ordered the water project scrapped and the projects reprioritised to reflect His Majesty the King's economic sufficiency guidelines.

The water project was initiated by the Yingluck government following the flood crisis in 2011. Elements of the project are reportedly perplexing and need to be scrutinised.

K-Water Thailand, a subsidiary of the South Korea-based Water Resource Corporation, won the bid to build two projects worth Bt162 billion, including a Bt153-billion floodway. Italian-Thai Development won five projects worth Bt110 billion.

The reform of the energy price structure is one of the most challenging tasks the NCPO faces, as it bids to reflect the real cost of each fuel type as well as to ensure people have fair and equal access to energy. An outline of the plan for restructuring energy prices is under consideration by the junta.

There is still some confusion as to whether the country has sufficient oil and gas sources to reduce the need for huge imports or to consume at cheap prices. After many groups of energy experts yesterday presented all their information to ACM Prajin Juntong, the NCPO's deputy chief, the junta this week might have more information to consider in revising energy policies.

Since the May 22 coup, the junta has taken steps to get the economy back on track including settling its debts to farmers, approving the Bt2.57 trillion fiscal 2015 budget, easing the cost of living and giving SMEs better access to liquidity.

Many research houses have begun to upgrade their economic outlook for Thailand, compared to estimates of possible contraction.

Of the 800,000 farmers who were owed Bt92 billion under the Yingluck government's controversial rice-pledging scheme, more than a half have received their overdue payments.

The military has also moved to restore foreign confidence in the country by expediting the drafting of the fiscal 2015 budget in an attempt to have it ready for disbursement by October 1, the start of the fiscal year. It approved Bt2.6 trillion in spending and a budget deficit of Bt250 billion.

It is also concerned about the burden on consumers, and capped the price for diesel at Bt29.99 a litre and for cooking oil at Bt22.63 a kilogram. There is also a price freeze on consumer products and meals in food courts. Recently, the retail diesel price was quoted at Bt29.85 a litre after being reduced last week by 14 satang.

The junta has also turned its attention towards small- and medium-sized businesses, with the Thai Credit Guarantee Corporation ordered to keep more money in reserve to guarantee loans for SMEs.

After appointing new members to the Board of Investment, Prayuth, as chairman of the BoI, is expected to approve pending applications for investment projects worth more than Bt700 billion.


-- The Nation 2014-06-16

[chainarong]

As far as their rail up grade is concerned , unless there is a proper investment for the long term , I refer to standard gage goods traffic at up to at least 3klm long ,there is little point of continuing the upgrade in it's present form , having goods trains at 30 in length, with old diesel loco's is not worth the money putting down a second track , you are still locked into thirties mind set, in twenty years times when Thailand has to move large amounts of goods traffic, it will cost ten times plus as much.

[craigt3365]

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[craigt3365]

Edit: and please stay on topic.

[Chao Lao Beach]

What is "standard" train gauge people refer to here?

[Cuchulainn]

This military government has done so much more in the last 3 weeks than all the other political parties in the last 10, 20 years! If they continue, uncorrupted of course, I hope to hell they STAY.

[tomyummer]

If anyone can do these projects it should be the military. With manpower, corps of engineers, and access to material, the miltary should be able to fix and make these projects in a more timely fashion than any government with a corrupt party at the helm.

Heck, let them fix the energy sector and become direct shareholders of EGAT and PTT. They can then take their proceeds to reinvest in energy related projects for improvement or expansions. They could then monitor projects that go over the border too.

Edited June 16, 2014 by tomyummer

[Eric Loh]

This military government has done so much more in the last 3 weeks than all the other political parties in the last 10, 20 years! If they continue, uncorrupted of course, I hope to hell they STAY.

The army really have done nothing much accept to review and approve all the plans done by previous government. They can with absolute rule while previous government cannot due to the tyranny of the minority with help from the courts and independent agencies. The army has lots of convincing to do all this without corruption. Jury still out there.

[Cuchulainn]

^

........They can with absolute rule.........

Well then, carry on!!

[Daniel Boon]

Well, I won't argue the transport or water issues; however, I would hope the National Council for Peace and Order strongly consider sustainability with respect to affordable food.

I read elsewhere, that there appears to be a generation missing from the Farmer's ranks, with most preferring work in 'the city' and while this may not appear to have an impact (have priority), at the moment, at a particular cross-over point - with a drop in food production within Thailand - there will be higher food costs and more Thai money leaving Thailand to bring food in.

At that point, it will take years to train and reinvigorate food self-sufficiency in Thailand; that is my concern.

It may be good for a while, to be the middleman bringing food into Thailand; however, at some point in time, the affordability of the food will create many problems ... the U-PODS concept will work well in Thailand and help head off food shortages, food security and food affordability.

[Sena Dave]

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What is "standard" train gauge people refer to here?

1435mm is standard Gauge , 1 metre Gauge is what the Thais and Malaysians have, the Malaysian service now being electrified. If the Thais were to build a narrow gauge railway with say 50 years durability , I think that would work or be worthwhile , high speed would be the real waste of money

[jcisco]

As far as their rail up grade is concerned , unless there is a proper investment for the long term , I refer to standard gage goods traffic at up to at least 3klm long ,there is little point of continuing the upgrade in it's present form , having goods trains at 30 in length, with old diesel loco's is not worth the money putting down a second track , you are still locked into thirties mind set, in twenty years times when Thailand has to move large amounts of goods traffic, it will cost ten times plus as much.

You are blurring two separate issues of Prime Mover performance and rail gauge and presenting them as the same thing.

I agree that Standard guage would be ideal, however installation, rolling stock, signalling, tunnels, bridges curve widening all has to be done and may not be feasible or within a budget that is acceptable.

Furthermore heavy duty narrow gauge rails can give nearly the same loading as Standard gauge and lengths of 200 cars. I'm not saying you would be able to drop 120T of coal per car, but close to it.

Though I guess it would come down to the quality of the installation, rail weight and the new rolling stock, in either case.

[billd766]

As far as their rail up grade is concerned , unless there is a proper investment for the long term , I refer to standard gage goods traffic at up to at least 3klm long ,there is little point of continuing the upgrade in it's present form , having goods trains at 30 in length, with old diesel loco's is not worth the money putting down a second track , you are still locked into thirties mind set, in twenty years times when Thailand has to move large amounts of goods traffic, it will cost ten times plus as much.

What is the railway gauge in the countries around Thailand? Is it standard gauge or the 1 metre gauge as in Thailand?

If Thailand is the odd country out of step with the rest it would mean entire train loads of people would have to disembak and re embark at each border of the country. That would be a little impractical if for example you wanted to take a train direct from Singapore to Beijing. Rolling stock needs to be of the same guage from country to country as it is in Europe for example.

[MaxLee]

The bidder aka thieves ran the hell away with a huge sum, wanna bet?

[billd766]

This military government has done so much more in the last 3 weeks than all the other political parties in the last 10, 20 years! If they continue, uncorrupted of course, I hope to hell they STAY.

The army really have done nothing much accept to review and approve all the plans done by previous government. They can with absolute rule while previous government cannot due to the tyranny of the minority with help from the courts and independent agencies. The army has lots of convincing to do all this without corruption. Jury still out there.

If the Army does nothing else but be transparent and accountable that will be a great change over the previous PTP government where a minority of voters put a tyrannical party into power.

[Pawpcorn]

I'd be happy with just having sidewalks that were walkable and safe, as opposed to the ankle-spraining body-maiming death-traps currently in place...

[Lakegeneve]

As far as their rail up grade is concerned , unless there is a proper investment for the long term , I refer to standard gage goods traffic at up to at least 3klm long ,there is little point of continuing the upgrade in it's present form , having goods trains at 30 in length, with old diesel loco's is not worth the money putting down a second track , you are still locked into thirties mind set, in twenty years times when Thailand has to move large amounts of goods traffic, it will cost ten times plus as much.

What is the railway gauge in the countries around Thailand? Is it standard gauge or the 1 metre gauge as in Thailand?

If Thailand is the odd country out of step with the rest it would mean entire train loads of people would have to disembak and re embark at each border of the country. That would be a little impractical if for example you wanted to take a train direct from Singapore to Beijing. Rolling stock needs to be of the same guage from country to country as it is in Europe for example.

Where does stating the obvious make yourself look lazy for not doing 30 seconds of research using Google???

Thailand currently has international services with two countries where Thai trains run into those countries, Malaysia and Laos (currently only a 3km long network but expanding). Both are obviously narrow gauge

(Laos plan does plan to build a $6billion standard gauge HSR to link China and Thailand in the future)

Thailand will in the future have international services with Cambodia (currently rebuilding their network) and Burma. Guess what? Both have narrow gauge networks. (Thailand is currently rebuilding the missing link of 6km of track between Aran & Poipet)

Vietnam also has narrow gauge. It is planning to build a new line between PP & HCM (design is nearly done). In about 10 years time you'll be able to take a train from BKK to PP and on to HCM.

Edited June 16, 2014 by Lakegeneve

[jackinthebox]

>A Bt4-billion module of the Bt350-billion water management project - a data centre for weather forecasting and disaster warnings - is high likely to be given first priority

4 Billion Baht for a data center? Could they not "buy" (license) the information from international meteorological satellite-operators? As for Disaster-warning - shouldn't be a big issue in times of 4G-GSM.

>here is still some confusion as to whether the country has sufficient oil and gas sources to reduce the need for huge imports or to consume at cheap prices

Nope. Not enough gas (in the long term) and even less oil.

[Ricardo]

Just to add that in Singapore, the 'mainline' north to Malaysia & Thailand is/was also metre-gauge, like Laos & Burma.

The new high-speed freight-line from Kunming to Singapore, if it's ever built, will be standard-gauge.

But any attempt to upgrade existing lines, from metre-gauge to standard-gauge, would need to cover at least three or four countries simultaneously.

Perhaps something might be managed, as ASEAN develops, in several years' time ?

[Sena Dave]

Malaysia have just spent 12Bn Ringgit (120Bn Baht) on a metre gauge railway from Pedang Basar to Ipoh. I read in The Bangkok post last year that one of the "High Speed" routes would be Bangkok to Pedang Basar , approximately 900K or 1800K of track. This makes no sense what-so-ever having a stranded gauge high speed (You cannot have narrow gauge) linking up to a narrow gauge railway (Line speed 160k). There is also High speed and High speed, The all singing all dancing German and Japanese systems and their Chinese and Taiwanese copies , very fast (Track design to 350K )and very expensive, you then get your second class high speed , ballast track that allows 220kph speeds and plenty of maintenance problems as its still ballasted track with tighter tolerances.

Lots and lots of half truth and rumour being written about the future rail works in Thailand, I'd say many in the industry have heard it all since 2002, the high speed wont happen nor will standard gauge,not to the south anyway expect double tracking projects and upgrades. Many foreign companies are also scared of getting burnt on these projects and i doubt you'll see mass influx of big players, more easy pickings for Ital -Thai

[ratcatcher]

As far as their rail up grade is concerned , unless there is a proper investment for the long term , I refer to standard gage goods traffic at up to at least 3klm long ,there is little point of continuing the upgrade in it's present form , having goods trains at 30 in length, with old diesel loco's is not worth the money putting down a second track , you are still locked into thirties mind set, in twenty years times when Thailand has to move large amounts of goods traffic, it will cost ten times plus as much.

"....I refer to standard gage goods traffic at up to at least 3klm long...."

There's virtually no chance of Thailand seeing freight trains running to 200 cars or 3km long.

Like this:

There just isn't the need.

Few countries in the world run such long trains. USA and Canada operate some long transcontinental fast freights and Australia heavy mineral trains. Perhaps, with respect, our resident railway expert Lake Geneve can comment on this?

[Ricardo]

Lovely video-clip !

I've heard that efficient Aussie single-track mineral-lines can shift up-to 30-million tons a year, which does perhaps suggest that a less-efficient Thai metre-gauge double-track system might handle a fair bit of the annual rice-production/exports, with capacity left over for container-trains between Laem Chabang and regional hubs, plus the odd passenger-train interspersed ?