Skytrain deal could be made void : DSI chief
Play
The Bt190-billion contract awarded to the operator of the Skytrain may become void if evidence shows the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) had no right to seal the deal, Department of Special Investigation (DSI) chief Tharit Pengdit said yesterday
“The Interior minister has explained that the mandate for the rail system in Bangkok lies with the ministry, not the BMA,” Tharit said. Interior Minister Yongyuth Wichaidit provided the explanation in response to a request for clarification from the DSI, he said.
A preliminary DSI probe into the case started after Pheu Thai MP Prompong Nopparit lodged a complaint with Tharit last month.
DSI investigators resolved early yesterday that the BMA, its legal investment arm Krungthep Thanakom (KT), and Skytrain operator BTSC should provide explanations too.
“They have till June 18 to respond,” Tharit said.
The BMA landed in hot water after it awarded the 30-year extension to BTSC via KT earlier this year. Under the deal, BTSC will receive about Bt190 billion for operating and maintaining Bangkok’s Skytrain system.
The contract can be divided into two parts: 30 years of services for two Skytrain extension routes that the BMA has invested in itself, and 13 years of services for the original network of Skytrain that BTSC developed as sole concessionaire.
The BTSC concession for the original network will expire in 2029, after which the firm will continue to maintain and operate the system under the Bt190-billion contract awarded by the BMA. When the concession expires, the original network property will belong to the BMA.
Many Pheu Thai MPs have interpreted the move as a form of extending the concession for the BTSC. They have also attacked the BMA for trying to bypass the interior minister in awarding the huge contract to the BTSC, which won the deal without the need to undergo any bidding process.
Tharit said DSI had not decided yet whether to launch a full probe into the allegation. “After we have got official explanations from the BMA, BTSC and KT, the DSI board will make a decision,” he said.
Deputy Bangkok Governor Thirachon Manomaipiboon insisted, meanwhile, that the BMA had the right to award the contract because it was a hiring contract, not a concession-extension.
“Besides, after the concession expires, the property of the original Skytrain network belongs to the BMA.” He said the BMA saved more than Bt6 billion by awarding the contract for 30 years, not 17 years.
