The Bangkok Expressway and Metro Plc (BEM) has won the bid for the right to jointly invest with the government in the Orange Line's western expansion project.
BEM won over ITD Group, a joint venture between Italian-Thai Development Plc (ITD) and South Korea's Incheon Transit Corporation.
BEM offered the highest promised investment return and requested the least amount of subsidies, said the Mass Rapid Transit Authority of Thailand (MRTA) in a statement yesterday.
BEM offered -78.28 billion baht in net present value (NPV) while ITD Group offered -102.63 billion baht in NPV, said the MRTA.
NPV is the difference between the present value of cash inflows and cash outflows over a period of time, which is a tool used in capital budgeting and investment planning to analyse the profitability of a projected investment or project.
The lower the negative NPV, the higher the profitability will be, said a source of MRTA.
Of the about 140-billion-baht investment value of the entire Orange Line project, about 14 billion baht will go to the payment of the land to be used for the construction of the new Orange Line.
Another 96 billion baht will be used for the construction of electric railways and the purchase of electric trains, while the remaining balance will be used for maintenance, said the MRTA source.
The bid winner will also be granted the concession to operate the electric train service on the entire electric rail line, 35.9 kilometres long, said the source.
The Orange Line is designed to consist of two sections, the eastern section of 17 stations stretching 22.5km long from the Thailand Cultural Centre to Min Buri and the western section of 11 stations stretching 13.4km from Bang Khun Non to the Thailand Cultural Centre, the source said.
The eastern section, which is currently being constructed, is scheduled to commence operation in August 2025 while the train service on the western section is due to follow in December 2027.