Purchase of six used submarines approved and retracted: Yingluck
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The Cabinet on Tuesday approved the naval proposal to buy six U-206 submarines, worth Bt6.9 billion, from Germany, Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra said, before retracting her statement hours later.
“The naval procurement project has been approved,” she said.
Yingluck subsequently instructed the deputy government spokesman to apologise for the confusion caused. The Cabinet did not debate the submarines deal but the prime minister misunderstood the reporter’s question as referring to the Army proposal to buy eight helicopters from France.
It remains unclear whether the Navy would get the greenlight to buy the submarines before the deal would expire on September 30.
Under the government procurement regulations, the Defence Ministry could give an initial approval before seeking the Cabinet endorsement next week.
The six submarines would be decommissioned by the German Navy. Four would be refurbished before the deployment in the Gulf of Thailand and two are slated for spare parts.
The original spending outlay was Bt7.7 billion but the Navy agreed to cut the price tag following the vetting by a panel formed by Defence Minister Yuthasak Sasiprapha.
The Office of the Auditor General dropped its earlier objection to the deal after receiving the justification for the purchase from the Navy and the defence panel.
