Four-lane road expansion is expected to be the first of the 2-trillion-baht infrastructure projects, according to a Public Debt Management Office source.
The expansion would have already begun if the Transport Ministry had put it in the fiscal 2013 budget, said the source, but it did not because the Yingluck Shinawatra administration had decided to include it in the infrastructure plan.
All infrastructure megaprojects under the plan have been delayed after the recent Constitutional Court ruling that the 2-trillion-baht borrowing bill to finance infrastructure development was unconstitutional.
The Finance Ministry has had to turn to the annual budget, borrowing under the public debt law, public-private partnerships and infrastructure funds to foot the massive investment.
Under the public debt law, state agencies can borrow in baht-denominated loans or bonds worth up to 20% of annual budget expenditure that year and in foreign currency at up to 10% of budget expenditure.
The Finance Ministry can provide guarantees worth up to 20% of the budget expenditure to state enterprises.
With limited funds, setting priorities has become crucial. The Finance Ministry has joined up with the Transport Ministry to prioritise infrastructure megaprojects.
According to the four-lane road expansion under the Pheu Thai Party-led government plan, there are 45 four-lane road projects totalling 14,741 kilometres. The road projects account for 14.47% of the 2-trillion-baht projects aimed at lowering the country's logistics costs by at least 2 percentage points of gross domestic product from 15.2% at present.
Existing four-lane roads in Thailand currently total 12,444km, while another 433km are under construction.
The dual-track rail projects running a length of 2,859km are crucial to help Thailand achieve its aim of cutting logistics costs.
The railway projects account for the lion's share of the infrastructure development plan at 82.9%, while water transportation represents 1.49%, customs checkpoints 0.61% and air transport and reserves for advance payment account for the remainder.
Should the government scrap the rice-pledging scheme — which has burdened the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives with at least 200-300 billion baht each year — it will be able to guarantee over 100 billion baht in borrowing each year for infrastructure development.