Briefs

The Excise, Revenue and Customs departments will jointly offer integrated tax services on Thursday under the Finance Ministry’s Tax Clinic project, which will utilise advanced technologies to help people get easier access to tax services on a cost-efficient basis, according to the ministry’s deputy permanent secretary Pongpanu Svetarundra.
The two main services are the provision of integrated tax information on www.taxclinic.mof.go.th and the establishment of tax-consultation services nationwide at 268 offices of the three departments.

MEGA-PROJECT PANEL PROPOSED
Transport Minister Chadchart Sittipunt plans to set up a committee to manage the infrastructure mega-projects after Parliament approves the Bt2-trillion Borrowing Bill.
He said he would propose that the prime minister or a deputy PM chair the committee, which will have authority to investigate the spending for these projects.
The committee will have representatives from the National Economic and Social Development Board and the Office of Transport and Traffic Policy and Planning as members.
He said the committee would ensure transparency and reduce the chance of corruption.

BOT TO DISCUSS CARD FEES WITH BANKS
The Bank of Thailand aims to discuss with commercial banks revision of fees charged to debit-card holders after “local switching” kicks off on September 1, said Jaturong Jantarangs, senior director of the BOT’s Payment Systems Policy Department.
“Local switching”, which involves shifting from international operators to local banks, will save the banks in operating costs as they will no longer have to pay fees for every transaction to issuers like Visa, MasterCard and American Express.
The central bank has surveyed merchants about “local switching”, and found they would be more willing to accept debit cards because the lower fee will encourage shoppers to use the cards instead of cash, he said.

BGH THINKS LOCALLY, REGIONALLY
Bangkok Dusit Medical Services (BGH), the country’s largest private hospital operator, will focus on acquiring hospitals in Thailand, especially upcountry, and in Asean rather than venturing into markets outside the region such as Australia, according to KGI Securities (Thailand).
The house noted in its research that there were a number of rumours regarding mergers and acquisitions by BGH. This includes the acquisition of a hospital in Australia. However, KGI talked to management of BGH, who revealed that the focus of its acquisitions would remain in Thailand, particularly provincial areas, where they still see opportunities.
If BGH does decide to invest overseas, the focus will remain on Asean countries, where the firm knows the market.
KGI has maintained an “outperform” rating on BGH but cut its target price to Bt188 from Bt195 and lowered its earnings projection from 2013 onward on softer-than-expected revenue growth.
The company’s management revealed that revenue growth in the first two months of the second quarter decelerated further to 10 per cent from 13 per cent in the first quarter of 2013 and lower than KGI’s and BGH management’s estimates at 15 per cent. Management plans to lower the revenue-growth guidance from 15 per cent this year after the announcement of the second-quarter earnings.
KGI raised this concern with management, who said the poor revenue growth was due to patients, especially Thais, starting to be more aware of the prices charged by private hospitals. However, management believes this can be resolved with marketing promotions.
Recent figures show this problem seems to be a long-term issue and cannot be handled within one or two quarters.

NGV STATION COSTS ANALYSED
The cost of building service stations offering natural gas for vehicles close to gas pipelines is so high that the lower price of the product does not compensate, says the president of the Land Transport Federation of Thailand.
The price of NGV near pipelines is Bt10.50 per kilogram, compared with Bt12.34 in more remote locations. However, the higher cost of construction and investment in areas close to the pipelines is not covered by that price differential, Yu Chiayuanyunpong said.
The cost of building an NGV service station near a pipeline averages Bt80 million, compared with Bt50 million to Bt60 million further away, said Voravit Charoenwattanapan, president of the Thai Transportation and Logistics Association.