FRIDAY, March 29, 2024
nationthailand

New energy minister will keep existing policies, ousted Pichai believes

New energy minister will keep existing policies, ousted Pichai believes

Former energy minister Pichai Naripthaphan says he is confident that his successor, Arak Cholatanont, will continue the ministry's policy focusing on the reduction of energy imports.

Pichai said at a farewell party yesterday that Thailand had failed to minimise its energy use, as indicated by the import of energy worth Bt1.2 trillion last year. Therefore, the new minister should focus on energy-import reduction and continue the price-restructuring policy that took effect on January 16, especially floating the price of liquefied petroleum gas in the transport sector.
He added that the ministry should continue to promote the use of natural gas for vehicles to curb fuel imports. There are about 100,000 NGV-fuelled trucks in Thailand.
He also supports the idea of the Vayupak Fund purchasing shares in PTT to privatise it and reduce the public debt.
Virabongsa Ramangkura, chairman of the government’s Strategic Committee for Reconstruction and Future Development, floated the idea of selling the government stake in PTT, in which the Finance Ministry currently holds 51 per cent, turning the state energy enterprise into a private firm. If implemented, the plan would enable the government to offload up to Bt700 billion from the public debt account.
Pichai said PTT’s business was very strong. The company must boost its wealth to enable it to invest more overseas to strengthen Thailand’s energy stability.
Commenting on the Cabinet reshuffle that cost him his job, he said he understood it was a matter of politics and he still had good relations with the Pheu Thai Party. He denied he had a conflict with the ministry’s permanent secretary Nokhun Sithipong.
He added that if he could go back in time, he would still implement the same energy policies, as these would benefit the country.
Meanwhile, Nokhun said he was gathering information on the energy situation for the new minister.

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