SRT needs restructuring, not privatisation

There should be no privatisation of the State Railway of Thailand (SRT) but it definitely needs restructuring, Chulalongkorn University economist Narong Petchprasert said on Thursday.

Mr Narong was speaking at a seminar, “Privatisation of State Enterprises: the Destruction of Labour Organisations'' organised by the State Enterprise Labour Relations  Confederation.

“The SRT provides train services for the public and as such the indicator of its success is not an operating profit but the quality of the service,'' Mr Narong said.

 "The government must provide the support the SRT needs to achieve such success”

If the SRT is to be privatised, representatives of its workforce must be allowed to take part. This is in line with the economic principle that a business operation comprises land, capital and labour.

Several other speakers expressed a similar opinion, that  the failure in the development of the SRT stemmed from mismanagement of its assets, particularly land.

One speaker made the point that Mah Boon Krong shopping centre had leased 23 rai of land for 20 years from Chulalongkorn University for 25 billion baht. But Central Pattana paid only 21 billion baht to the SRT for its 47 rai of land for 20 years.