The Central Group has praised the Royal Thai Navy for its transparency in organising a bid which it won to manage retail space and services at the navy-owned U-Tapao Airport in Rayong.
The contract to manage 1,400 square metres of the 2,000sq m retail space at the airport was won by the Central DFS Consortium, according to Yuwadee Chirathivat, chairwoman of Central Department Store Company Limited.
Two contracts were up for grabs -- one for the duty-free shops and the other for the retail space and services.
King Power beat four other bidders, including the consortium, for the duty-free shop contract. However, King Power, along with five other bidders, lost to the consortium in the retail space and services contract.
The retail space and services concession spans 10 years.
The Central DFS Consortium is a venture between Central Department Store Company Limited and DFS Venture Singapore (Pte) Limited.
The Royal Thai Navy's U-Tapao Airport committee had put the contracts out to tender and bidding was conducted in two stages.
The first involved narrowing down the bidders according to suitability, while the second saw the financial proposals submitted by the remaining firms scrutinised by the committee.
The Central DFS Consortium praised the Royal Thai Navy for the transparency of its tender process, which set a standard for such processes in which both the state and the public benefit, Ms Yuwadee said.
According to the contract, the winning bidder of the retail and services concession will also build the duty-free goods pick-up counter at the airport.
Ms Yuwadee said the consortium was delighted that it has won the contract. It will design and construct the pick-up counter to a high standard, with the Royal Thai Navy overseeing the running of the counter.
The Central Group believes that having a role in managing the retail space and services will promote the use of commercial space at the U-Tapao Airport and boost its potential as an aviation hub for the Eastern Economic Corridor project, according to Ms Yuwadee.
Meanwhile, a source in the navy said that at least four companies have shown interest in bidding for the 200-billion-baht development of U-Tapao airport and its industrial aviation park, which includes centres for aircraft maintenance and freight transport logistics.
Each of the four has bought envelopes containing the Terms of Reference (ToR) for the project. The letters will be sold until Nov 29 and the names of the bidders announced the next day, said the source.
Also, the ToR for a new round of contracts to operate the duty-free shop and retail space at the Suvarnabhumi airport will be forwarded for consideration by the Airports of Thailand board before the end of the month. The contracts cover 53,000 sqm of space.