Panel alters Bt2-tn infrastructure bill
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Special status reduced but new version likely to be voted down
The Senate committee scrutinising the Bt2-trillion infrastructure loan bill has amended it to reduce its special status and require Parliament’s prior approval of transport development projects.
The changes were made at the panel’s meeting on Monday while pro-government members were away.
But the new version is expected to be voted down during the bill’s second reading in Parliament.
Paibul Nititawan, an appointed senator, said the members had finished reviewing the bill and the majority resolved to revise Articles 3 and 6.
A definition was added to Article 3 of transport development projects as “projects as stated in the strategic plan annexed to the bill, which has been submitted to Parliament”.
The word “not” was removed from the first paragraph of Article 6. The amendment would require that the Bt2 trillion in loans would be first sent to the Finance Ministry before they could be disbursed and spent according to the budget procedure outlined in Article 169 of the Constitution.
In the House of Representatives’ version, the loan proceeds would not have to be sent to the Finance Ministry and the government could spend the money right away for the development of transport infrastructure.
That version was attacked by opposition MPs and the Group of 40 Senators for fear that the development projects would be free from parliamentary oversight.
If the amended bill sails through its second and third readings in the Senate, it will be sent back to the House for re-deliberation.
If the House reaffirms its own version, a joint House-Senate committee will be established to work out a mutually acceptable form and the law’s enactment could be further delayed.
But Somchart Phanphat, a senator from Nakhon Pathom and a deputy chairman of the vetting panel, said he believed that in the second reading, the majority of senators would vote to revive the House version.
A source from the Senate panel said the anti-government Group of 40 Senators jumped on the chance to move to vote on the change to Article 6 when most pro-government senators were absent.
Kecha Saksomboon, a senator from Ratchaburi and another deputy chairman, said he disagreed with the change to Article 6 because it would create complications when the bill was meant to bypass normal budget procedures.
Somchart said Thawat Bowornnichayakul, the appointed senator who chairs the panel, had to be criticised for not summoning all members back to the meeting before calling for a vote on the proposed changes.
Many members of the panel were attending a Parliament session and missed the vote, he said.
