TRANSPORT
ANUCHA CHAROENPO
A national rail and mass transport development committee has decided to go ahead with the Bangkok Mass Transit Authority's controversial scheme to rent 6,000 air-conditioned buses which run on NGV. The panel, chaired by Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej, will resubmit the BMTA's proposed bus rental scheme for cabinet consideration next week.
If approved, the government will use an electronic bidding procedure, known as e-auction, to ensure transparency, said government spokesman Wichienchote Sukchoterat.
''The e-auction will be transparent and fair to all bidders. A special committee will be set up to supervise the bidding so the public should not worry about any irregularities,'' Pol Lt-Gen Wichienchote said after the meeting.
He said the prime minister wanted the bidding process to be completed as quickly as possible so the 110-billion-baht project could be implemented.
Mr Samak withdrew the plan from the cabinet meeting last month after the Democrat party and the anti-government People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) claimed there were some irregularities concerning the project.
Critics also alleged some ministers were taking a one-million-baht kickback per vehicle.
The Democrats also chose the controversial bus leasing scheme to grill Deputy Transport Minister Somsak Thongsri, who supervises the project, during last month's censure debate.
Pol Lt-Gen Wichienchote said to prevent further allegations of fraud, the national rail and mass transport development committee required all bidders to be a juristic person and half of their shares must be held by Thai nationals.
A website will be opened to allow the public to post comments and questions about the project.
''If we find that most people disagree with the bus rental scheme, it may be scrapped,'' he said.
The spokesman added that the prime minister insisted the much-criticised project go ahead because he was certain it was corruption-free and none of his cabinet ministers would make any personal gain from it.
Mr Samak also claimed the project would help deal with the BMTA's accumulated debt of six billion baht. He projected the project would generate about 4.8 billion baht in profit for the agency in the next 10 years.
Without the NGV buses, the BMTA's financial status would be further jeopardised since the agency had to shoulder huge petrol and maintenance costs for about 3,000 buses, which have been in use for more than 10 years, said the spokesman.
Under the proposed project, the new NGV buses will be in service by next May. Fares on the new buses will be 15 baht per trip.
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