Ask before spending our money

The government’s own consultants did a study that bravely showed the line would earn a rate of return of 10.7 per cent, significantly below the ministry’s 12-per-cent minimum. Former Bank of Thailand governor MR Pridyathorn Devakula quoted a study showing that fares on some routes would have to exceed plane fares to be financially feasible.

Tellingly, the minister has never shown a study indicating that the train project is financially feasible. This insistence on continuing is puzzling, given that the Hua Hin route alone will cost a staggering Bt82 billion. That’s a lot of your hard-earned money, dear reader, and mine, that the government proposes to spend without any sound economic reason.

Prime Minister Yingluck made no election claim to having economic smarts, and she’s lived up (or down) to our expectations. Remember the rice scheme? The Economist on August 10 profiled it under the headline “The rice mountain: An increasingly unpopular government sticks to its worst and most costly policy”.

Yingluck, first prove your case that the high-speed train is economically worthwhile, including benefits to consumers. Then – and only then – ask us for the money, rather than use your parliamentary majority to write cheques to yourself from our bank account.

Burin Kantabutra

Bangkok