NGV bus deal signing put off after a petition to PM Prayut

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NGV bus deal signing put off after a petition to PM



BANGKOK: -- Bangkok Mass Transit Authority (BMTA) has put off its scheduled signing of a 1.78 billion baht contract to purchase the first fleet of 489 NGV-powered buses following a petition by a bus firm to Prime Minister Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha.

BMTA was scheduled to sign the deal with JVCC Co, a joint venture of Cho Thavee Dollasien Plc, which won the bid to supply the fleet to BMTA in May this year, on Tuesday.

But it was put off with no date being fixed for the signing.

BMTA acting director Mrs Pranee Sulrasorn said the contract signing was put off because the agreement document sent to the state prosecutor for wording check has not yet returned to the BMTA.

This meant there would have no signing of agreement this week, she said.

She said the document would also be forwarded to the BMTA board for acknowledgement.

But a source said the signing was put off after a bidder, Bestlin Group Co Ltd petitioned the prime minister.

According to the source, the company, importer of Sunlong bus from China, asked the prime minister to investigate after it claimed to have detected unusual conditions in the bus procurement agreement that it claimed could inflict damages to the state.

Earlier last week, the BMTA acting director said BMTA board has approved signing of the procurement deal with JVCC.

All the 489 NGV buses will be delivered within 90 days after the signing of the deal, she added.

According to her, she expected the first lot of 50 NGV buses to be delivered in July this year.

Cho Thavee Dollasien Plc has won the bid to supply a first fleet of buses to BMTA at the price of 3.5 million baht per bus.

She said the offered price is about one million baht lower than a median price set by BMTA.

This meant that BMTA has saved over 489 million baht in the procurement of NGV-powered buses under the project.

Source: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/ngv-bus-deal-signing-put-off-after-a-petition-to-pm


-- Thai PBS 2015-06-17

[ezzra]

According to the source, the company, importer of Sunlong bus from China, asked the prime minister to investigate after it claimed to have detected unusual conditions in the bus procurement agreement that it claimed could inflict damages to the state.

Really, what a surprise.... unusual conditions? you mean like the bus really cost half that much in China?

[ChrisY1]

So BKK will have 489 brand new gas fueled buses within 3 months......will these new buses last very long...is there a warranty period?.....Is the deal legitimate?

[Srikcir]

The bid price is 3.5 million baht per bus.

The medium price for each vehicle was set at 3.65 million baht. (ref. "13 Entrepreneurs interested in 3rd round of auction for NGV bus procurement deal," 2015-03-31)

Total number of buses is 489.

Thus, shouldn't the savings be 150,000 baht per bus and not 1 million baht per bus?

Edited June 18, 2015 by Srikcir