The first budget disbursement, around 40 billion baht, under the government's two-trillion-baht infrastructure investment programme is not expected until 2014, according to the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra (left) examines a train model after opening the Designing a Happy Journey: Reviving Kyushu through Creativity at the Thailand Creative&Design Center exhibition at The Emporium mall on March 15, 2013. The exhibition is a collaboration between Japans Kyushu Railway Co and the TCDC and profiles the most extensive tourist railway services in Japan. Photo by Apichart Jinakul)
The delay in implementation will affect the country's overall economic performance, Craig Steffensen, country director of the ADB's Thailand resident mission said on Tuesday.
Design work for the capital-intensive high-speed trains had yet to start, and a therefore a slow start is also anticipated for the projects, he said.
Luxmon Attapich, senior country economist at ADB, said the Thai government has yet to decide which organisation would be in charge of the high-speed trains.
In addition, a special monitoring system should be set up to ensure transparency in the budget disbursement and project implementation.
Such a monitoring system was set up during the previous Democrat-led government for public investments under Thai Khem Khaeng infrastructure scheme, Ms Luxmon said.