Thailand looks at speeding up infrastructure projects

30 May 2013  2033 | World Travel News

BANGKOK- It was announced with much fanfare at the start of the year 2011. “YES; to build a connection bridge for pedestrians linking Makassan Airport Express Station to the nearby MRT station of Phetchburi is a priority”, had declared a former Transport Secretary… “YES; financing is already secured”. Except that more than two years later, people will desperately look for the promised pedestrian walkway. Even not a single foundation stone has been laid off for its construction. And this is only to connect two points on a distance of 300 meters! Similar fate has been so far been shared with Phuket much expected International Convention Centre, a new Cruise Terminal, a highspeed train to Ayutthaya, a couple of MRT and Skytrain lines in Bangkok etc, etc, etc…

Now the government wants to tackle seriously the issue of never-ending delays… Since April 3, a new act for Public Private Partnership has been promulgated in an effort to speed up administrative procedures for public-private projects. The new act replaces the previous PPP Act that was in force since 1992. The biggest difference with the former Act is that a company who wins a public bid from the Government must sign the contract within 180 days. If the tender is not signed within the time frame, the bid is reopened for attribution. In the previous Act, there was no set-up limit to the tender effective application.

He added that the new act also included articles supporting public-private joint ventures for national infrastructure projects. A new committee for five-year strategic development under the Prime Minister will also look at all the infrastructure investments able to fall under the new PPP Act. This national PPP Committee will also be responsible at drafting the various rules and procedures set out in the Act. The committee will also choose a government agency which will then be responsible to conduct a feasibility study to assess the viability of a project before it can be processed to approval.

The value of the project has also been lowered to include also bids of US 330 million (THB 1 billion) in contrary to the previous Act.

Only 40 projects were approved between 1992 and today, the year the previous PPP Act had been promulgated in 1992.

 

Sourced: TravelDailyNews

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