Democrats to unveil 'better' plan for transport

Democrat leader Abhisit Vejjajiva, who is also the opposition leader, will lead senior party figures in unveiling an investment plan called Thai Khemkhaeng (Strong Thailand) 2020, said Korn, who is former finance minister.

He said the information to be presented was aimed at allowing the public to compare it with the government’s Bt2-trillion loans plan to fund its transport infrastructure projects.

“We are confident that our investment plan for the country’s future under Thai Khemkhaeng will be able to better answer to the country’s problems, in a better way than the government’s does,” Korn said.

The Democrat move came at a time the government led by the ruling Pheu Thai Party planned to hold a road show in different parts of the country to promote the Bt2-trillion loans plan, which has come under heavy criticism from critics and the opposition.

Korn yesterday said the Democrats were not aiming to compete with the government’s road show, due to their limited funds. He also questioned the credibility of the government’s information to be presented at its road show events. 

He said the Democrats would petition with the Constitutional Court for a ruling whether the government’s bill to allow the Finance Ministry to borrow Bt2 trillion for the projects was constitutional. Korn said the party’s legal team was drafting the petition and was expected to complete its work this coming week.

The Democrats would wait until the bill passes the Senate’s deliberation before they would submit their petition with the court, according to Korn.

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Kittiratt Na-Ranong yesterday said he had no concern about the Democrat move to bring the case to court. He said the government had carefully considered the bill in detail and found no issues that could lead to a legal problem.

Kittiratt, who is also deputy prime minister, said there were similar laws issued by past governments. He added that a delay of the legislation would make the country lose good opportunities. “All the parties involved should think of the national interest first,” he said.

Senator Surachai Chaitrakulthong, secretary of the Senate whip, said the Senate was expected to start first-reading deliberation of the Bt2-trillion borrowing bill on September 30. 

After the House passed its third reading on Friday night, the bill should be fprwarded to the Senate tomorrow (Monday) while the Senate whip had scheduled Wednesday to discuss when to put it on agenda.

Earlier, related Senate committees, on transportation as well as finance and monetary issues, had studied the content of the bill to some extent. The Senate would consider again whether to look at the reports at the same time.