‘Missing link’ to start in August

This follows yesterday’s Cabinet meeting, at which ministers approved a draft contract for hiring Bangkok Expressway and Metro (BEM) to operate the link, as tabled by the transport minister, said Nattaporn Jatusripitak, adviser to the commerce minister. 
Under the Bt918.49-million contract, BEM will install the electric-rail system and operate the Tao Poon-Bang Sue section, with the link forming part of the MRT Blue Line’s extension programme. 
BEM operates the Blue Line for the current Bang Sue-Hua Lamphong section. Two extensions totalling 26km – the Tao Poon-Tha Phra and Hua Lamphong-Tha Phra-Bang Khae sections – are under construction. 
Once the missing link and the two extensions are completed, commuters will be able to travel smoothly throughout the line, which will run as a loop.  
Nattaporn said that if additional funding were needed to complete the missing link, the Cabinet had instructed the Finance Ministry to arrange domestic borrowing for the Mass Rapid Transit Authority of Thailand (MRTA). 
“The Transport Ministry was instructed by the Cabinet to oversee the MRT Blue Line’s Tao Poon-Bang Sue section project, so that it can be open for service within August,” the adviser added.
Transport Minister Arkhom Termpittayapaisith said his ministry had informed the Cabinet that 89 per cent of the civil-engineering works on the Blue Line extensions was now complete – short of the targeted 89.42 per cent. As to operating the extensions, he said a committee set up under the Public-Private Partnership Act had been negotiated with BEM, and a draft operation contract had been sent to the Office of the Attorney General for checking. 
“The draft contract is expected to be sent for Cabinet approval and then signed in March,” he said.
The procurement of rolling stock would then follow, he added. 
The MRTA targets the commencement of services on the Hua Lamphong-Bang Khae section in September 2019, and on the Tao Poon-Tha Phra section in March 2020, Arkhom said.