Govt to help finance flood-barrier construction
Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Kittiratt Na-Ranong said today that factories in seven industrial estates should not invest in their own flood barriers and that they should leave the task to the industrial estate operators.
Saying at a water management seminar in Bangkok today, he said that the industrial operators themselves could win a soft loan package from Government Savings Bank for the construction.
Meanwhile, under the government's Bt50 billion insurance scheme, premiums from the scheme would also be used to finance the construction.
Chakkrit Parapuntakul, director–general of Public Debt Management Office, said today that combined post-flood rehabilitation could reach Bt1.4 trillion in two years from now. Three fourths of the investment would be invested by the private sector.
The government earlier announced the plan to invest Bt350 billion in water infrastructure.
Over the proposed cut in stakes in state enterprises like PTT and Thai Airways International to reduce the public debts and raise the government's borrowing capacity, Chakkrit said that such divestment would effectively reduce the public debts. However, there are some legal aspects to be considered, he said.
