Beijing meet to finalise railroad projects
Play
Transport Minister ACM Prajin Juntong yesterday said the next meeting of the Thai-Chinese committee on railroad development in Thailand was set for February 11-13 in Beijing to finalise details on two double-track railroad projects.
The projects would be proposed to the Cabinet in March for approval.
The committee’s first meeting yesterday in Bangkok agreed on four areas – outline, design, survey and investment model.
The project would build parallel tracks of 1.435-metre gauge each from Nong Khai-Map Ta Phut and Bangkok-Kang Khoi covering a combined length of 873 kilometres at a cost of Bt400 billion.
China Railway Corporation would recommend five construction companies.
TAXI GROUP DENIES CALL
The Land Transport Department and Suvarnabhumi Airport Taxi Drivers Association yesterday denied that there was a campaign “not to serve Japanese tourists”.
Sadis Jaiteing, president of taxi drivers, said yesterday there was no evidence for such complaints from taxis operating at Suvarnabhumi Airport as well as from drivers. However, he will help investigate the problem in order to rebuild taxi services.
The department also confirmed that no official complaint had arrived, but said it was ready to deal with the issue.
A notice in many languages calling for the ban had gone viral yesterday, leading to damage to the country’s image particularly in transport services and also the tourism environment.
SEC APPROVES FUND
The Securities and Exchange Commission approved the establishment of the Jasmine Broadband Internet Infrastructure Fund (JASIF) on January 20, according to Jasmine International.
JASIF will invest in the ownership of and the rights to benefit from the revenues generated by the core fibre-optic network for broadband Internet from Triple Three Broadband, a subsidiary of Jasmine. The fund worth Bt55 billion-Bt57.75 billion will offer 5.5 billion units to investors.
FOUR VIE FOR NBTC SEAT
Four candidates are vying for the seat on the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) vacated by Suthiphon Thaveechaiyakarn, who resigned last August to join the State Audit Commission.
They are Major General Suphichart Senanurak, officer of office of NBTC commissioner Settapong Malisuwan, and Thanakorn Poonpinyosak, former officer of office of NBTC commissioner Natee Sukonra.The other two are lawyer Taweedej Sengkaew and scholar Nipan Jittasombat.
The Senate secretariat will propose their names to the National Legislative Assembly, which will select one of them to be the commissioner within 60 days from yesterday.
BUDGET FOR FY 2016
The fiscal 2016 budget, which has been set at Bt2.7 trillion, will focus on economic development, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha said yesterday. The budget for the fiscal year commencing in October has a set deficit of 2.9 per cent of gross domestic product and is 5.6 per cent higher than the current fiscal budget.
