Bankruptcy warning for Sino-Thai high-speed rail project

Chulalongkorn University on Thursday held an academic forum on the controversial Thai-Chinese partnership, with many academics saying they believed that the government had not completely considered all aspects of the mammoth project. 
Sompong Sirisoponsilp, former director of the Transportation Institute at Chulalongkorn University, said the government had not thoroughly considered the project, which will result in a total economic failure and a loss of other benefits that the government expected.
The high-speed train link between Bangkok and Nongkha is in the initial phase, and is supposed to connect with Chinese high-speed trains in Laos en route to mainland China. 
The National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) recently issued an order via Article 44 of the provisional charter to expedite the project by exempting it from many laws.
The project will be 100-per-cent funded by the Thai government and constructed by Chinese engineers and architects using Chinese technology.
Sompong said the government had neglected many important issues, such as connectivity to other transportation systems, the competitiveness of the project compared to buses or airplanes, the customer group and preparedness after the high-speed train links to China.
Nuannoi Trirat, an economist and director of the Institute of Asian Studies at Chulalongkorn University, said the current project in Nakhon Ratchasima was likely to end in bankruptcy as there were limited passengers and many transportation options.
“On the Bangkok to Nakhorn Ratchasima route, there are already three governmental projects: The high-speed train, the dual train tracks project and the new motorway,” Nuannoi said.