State enterprises urged to set up infrastructure funds
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Ministries are urged to single out infrastructure projects of state enterprises under their supervision which could be financed by infrastructure funds, as a way to reduce the government's financial burden.
Finance Permanent Secretary Areepong Bhoocha-oom said after the meeting of the State Enterprise Policy Committee chaired by Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Kittiratt Na-Ranong that infrastructure funds would be a choice to finance state enterprises' projects.
"All ministries with state enterprises under supervision are told to consider which projects of their state enterprises should be financed by the fund, to allow public participation in the financing," he said.
State enterprises with potential to set up infrastructure funds are the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand and Expressway Authority of Thailand.
Regulations governing the infrastructure funds would be revised to make the funds more attractive to the general public. Areepong said that investment could be tax-exempted, for example.
The range of eligible projects could also be expanded. Under the existing rules, only projects which are 70 per cent complete could be financed by the funds. Meanwhile, the funds could finance upto 30 per cent of the value of greenfield projects.
