Floodwall subsidy budget slashed after scrutiny

Floodwall subsidy budget slashed after scrutiny

The Industrial Estate Authority of Thailand (IEAT) has trimmed the state budget to subsidise industrial estates' flood-wall construction by 334 million baht to 2.67 billion.

After several delays, disbursements will begin this week, said IEAT governor Verapong Chaiperm.

To assist six industrial estates inundated during the 2011 floods, the government agreed in 2012 to subsidise two-thirds of the funds needed to build the flood walls.

The rest will be in the form of soft loans at near-zero interest.

Five industrial estates _ Bang Pa-in, Hi-tech, Rojana, Navanakorn and Bangadi _ sought total funding of 5.17 billion baht to be approved by the Strategic Committee for Reconstruction and Future Development (SCRF).

The exception is Saha Rattana Nakorn, which has yet to come up with a figure because it has overhauled the construction plan.

Mr Verapong said initially the approved sum was 4.515 billion baht.

It was later trimmed it to 4.014 billion baht following thorough assessments of the construction plans based on the latest median price and changes to the construction plans at some estates.

Some operators altered the structure of their construction boundaries, resulting in lower costs, he said.

All construction items were scrutinised based on industrial estate standards and median prices, he added.

The scrutiny led to a reduction of the subsidy budget from around 3.01 billion baht to 2.67 billion.

Mr Verapong said disbursements of the budget were slow to begin due to the complex verification process and the number of agencies involved including the Finance Ministry.

"But now we have completed the verification and forwarded all relevant details to the Industry Ministry. The first disbursement will begin next week," he said.

Although the disbursements have yet to begin, all but one have begun the construction.

To date, Rojana is the only operator which has completed the construction.

The remaining estates are making 90% progress, except for Bang Pa-in whose work is 80% done, he said.

Mr Verapong said bidding conditions for the floodwall construction of industrial estates belonging to IEAT proved problematic and failed to attract bidders.

Nineteen companies purchased the bidding documents but none has joined.

The construction time of eight months was also viewed as too tough. It was later extended to 10 months.

Mr Verapong said the Comptroller General Department is expected to revise up the median price next month or in March from 3.546 billion baht as requested by companies to reflect higher cost of labour and construction materials.

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