Cabinet facing giant bills for health,roads
Two budget requests have been put on the agenda for approval by the Cabinet tomorrow one a colossal amount of more than Bt157 billion from the National Health Security Office (NHSO) for free or lowcost treatment for holders of healthcare golden cards.
In the second, the Transport Ministry's Department of Rural Roads is seeking Bt3.64 billion for repairs and maintenance of roads associated with royal projects for a five year period.
For the NHSO's request, Bt155,666,287,200 is needed for treatment costs while another Bt1,672,025,400 is for management and administrative purposes. The Public Health Ministry, which would submit the request, said it was government policy to achieve better standards and services for the NHSO.
For road repairs and maintenance, the budget would be spent on roads linking many royal project sites and several royal research centres, mostly located in the North.
A budget plan has divided the works into three phases: from 20122014 for 24 roads covering 219 kilometres and needing Bt1,306 million; from 20142016 for 34 roads covering 390 km and needing Bt2,044 million, and in 2016 for 18 roads covering 76 km costing Bt296 million.
