The Central Administrative Court ordered Bangkok Mass Transit Authority (BMTA) to pay more than 1.1 billion baht to Bestlin Group and its allies for unlawfully terminating a procurement contract for 489 new gas-fuelled buses.
Bestlin Group petitioned the court against the BMTA in May last year after the Bangkok bus operator scrapped its 3.3-billion-baht contract to supply the vehicles. The ruling was read Tuesday.
According to the ruling, Bestlin imported 489 natural gas for vehicle (NGV) buses and 390 of them were delivered to the BMTA while the rest were confiscated by the Customs Department pending investigation, but the city bus operator failed to inspect them and the delivered buses.
The BMTA claimed it could not receive the buses because the Office of the Attorney-General asked it to wait until the Customs Department concluded its investigation into the source of origin of the buses. The city buses operator later cited the failure of the company to deliver the 489 buses on time in its decision to scrap the purchasing contract.
According to the court, the BMTA's claim is not consistent with the facts as the BMTA's committee overseeing the bus delivery previously agreed the company could gradually deliver the buses, not necessarily deliver the whole 489 at one time. In addition, 292 of the buses had already been registered in the name of the BMTA.
For the BMTA's claim that the company in fact imported the buses assembled in Malaysia, not China as it declared, the court said the source of assembly was not essential in the contract.
As a result, the court ruled the BMTA must reimburse Bestlin for costs it incurred from April 12 last year -- the day of the contract's revocation -- up to the day it filed the case with the court. This figure stands at around 1.048 billion baht.
Additional fees of 12.1 million baht for Bestlin's construction of the buses' maintenance centre must also be paid by the BMTA.
The remaining fees include 98.8 million baht for the NGV buses' maintenance costs, and around 547,000 baht in delayed reimbursement for the deal's bank guarantee. The total figure is around 1.16 billion baht plus interest of 7.5% per year, according to the ruling.
In addition, the court granted an injunction order against new bids called for the NGV buses after the BMTA scrapped the contract with Bestlin, as petitioned by Siam Standard Energy Co, one of the bid contenders. The plaintiff said the BMTA's resolution to approve the new purchasing contract for the 489 buses at a cost of 4.22 billion baht was unlawful.
The injunction order could result in the suspension of NGV bus delivery by the new bid winner, SCN-CHO -- a joint venture between Scan Inter Plc (SCN) and Cho Thavee Plc (CHO) -- to the BMTA.