Court rejects request to suspend Orange Line bidding
The Central Administrative Court on Monday rejected the Bangkok Mass Transit System (BTSC)’s request for an injunction to suspend bidding for construction of the Orange Line.
BTSC, the BTS Skytrain operator, argued that the project owner, Mass Rapid Transit Authority of Thailand (MRTA), should halt bidding until the courts rule on an earlier lawsuit filed by BTSC.
The Administrative Court dismissed the request on grounds that the MRTA’s request for proposals (RFP) and the bidding process did not violate the Public Private Partnership Act.
The MRTA called the second round of bidding in May.
The court said the second round was conducted properly, with a 60-day interval before the MRTA invited bidders to submit their envelopes on July 27.
However, BTSC filed a lawsuit challenging the terms of reference (TOR) and RFP with the Central Administrative Court and a complaint with the Department of Special Investigation.
BTSC earlier won two cases against the MRTA – for unlawfully cancelling the first round of bidding and unlawfully changing the TOR.
The MRTA said that 14 companies bought the RFP documents for the second round but only two consortiums submitted bids on July 27.
On August 1, the MRTA opened the first envelope on technical data from the two consortiums, namely Bangkok Expressway and Metro (BEM)/H Karnchang Plc and Italian Thai Development Plc/Incheon Transit Corp (South Korea). The MRTA said it would examine the technical proposals before considering the bid prices offered.
