PM delays it for review to avoid any graft claims
AMORNRAT MAHITTHIROOK & ANUCHA CHAROENPO
Santi: Denies trying
to avoid censure |
The Transport Ministry's 110-billion-baht plan to lease new buses for the city ran into a major hurdle yesterday when Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej decided to put it on the backburner to avoid criticism of possible graft.
Mr Samak ordered the bus project be withdrawn from the agenda on the grounds that there was a need to review the investment cost by a committee responsible for mass transit.
Transport Minister Santi Promphat said that in the wake of reservations voiced by academics and critics, Mr Samak wanted the project to be reviewed carefully, especially the investment cost, so officials could answer queries that were bound to arise.
The ministry had planned to lease 6,000 air-conditioned buses powered by natural gas for 10 years.
The review will touch on the appropriateness of the leasing charge of roughly 5,100 baht per bus per day.
The terms of reference for the selection of the leasing company will also be scrutinised.
After the review, the bus leasing project can be resubmitted to the cabinet, the minister said.
Mr Santi denied the government was in a hurry to withdraw the project from the cabinet meeting to avoid a censure debate being sought by the Democrats.
He stood firmly by his position that the state would benefit more by leasing the buses than buying them. It would save on the cost of maintenance, which would be met by the lessor.
The lessor would also have to ensure there were replacement buses put in service when the regular buses underwent maintenance, Mr Santi said. There would be no bus shortage, he added.
Mr Santi also rejected concerns of bus conductors who are afraid of being laid off when the 6,000 buses fitted with electronic ticket dispensers are deployed next year.
The minister said the project would allow conductors to be trained and become bus drivers because the Bangkok Mass Transit Authority (BMTA) would need more drivers as its fleet expanded from about 3,000 buses now to 6,000.
Government spokesman Wichienchote Sukchoterat said the bus leasing plan was still controversial as it had attracted a lot of public attention and thus additional time was needed for a more thorough study.
Pol Lt-Gen Wichienchote said the project would return to the cabinet for consideration after the pros and cons had been studied.
''All details of the project must be transparent,'' he said.
A cabinet source said the prime minister also emphasised the transparency of the project because it was being closely watched, especially by the opposition.
But Deputy Transport Minister Songsak Thongsri, who pushed for the new bus fleet, argued it needed swift approval to save the BMTA going deeper into the red, the source said.
Mr Songsak is one of seven ministers targeted for grilling by the Democrats about the bus project.
Democrat deputy secretary-general Thavorn Senniam said now the bus project was going to be reviewed, the Democrats could drop the issue from its censure debate topics.
BMTA chairman Piyaphan Champasut said the city bus agency would do whatever the government decided, whether leasing or buying.
But he supported the lease idea, also pointing out the BMTA would not have to cover the cost of maintenance.
Last week, the mass transit development committee approved the bus leasing plan. Half of the buses were set to enter service in March and the rest in July next year.
Chairat Sa-nguansue, acting chief of the Land Transport Department, said a new ministerial regulation on taxi fare increases would be announced in a few days.
The new fares would be a flagfall of 35 baht, including the first kilometre, and an increment of 50 satang for each subsequent kilometre.
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