The State Railway of Thailand (SRT)on Thursday defended its decision to allow a consortium led by Charoen Pokphand Group to delay paying a lump sum of 10.6 billion baht when taking over the operations of the Airport Rail Link (ARL) on Oct 25.
SRT governor Nirut Maneephan said a three-month grace period was not granted to benefit Asia Era One (AERA1) which was expected to pay the sum on Oct 24 to complete the operation transfer.
Mr Nirut said AERA1 is required to put forward 1.07 billion baht as a payment guarantee under a memo of understanding (MoU) it signed with SRT Electric Train Co.
Under the MoU, the SRT Electric Train Co is eligible to receive train fares and other gains from commercial operations related to the ARL system during the three-month period starting Oct 24.
During this period AERA1 is allowed to provide support to SRT and SRT Electric Train Co in the operations of the ARL system and the company will provide staff and absorb all the risks and expenses.
While the income made can be used to pay for the expenses, profits must be returned to the SRT, he said.
The grace period has been granted after the CP-led consortium sought to revise a contract on the development of the high-speed railway linking three airports citing impacts caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
AERA1, formerly known as Eastern High-Speed Rail Linking Three Airports Co Ltd, won the bid to build a high-speed rail linking Don Muang, Suvarnabhumi and U-Tapao.