The Supreme Administrative Court on Monday upheld a lower court injunction to temporarily suspend the selection of a constructor for two sections of the Thai-Chinese rail project in the Northeast.
The suspension order involves the Kaeng Khoi-Klang Dong and Pang Asoke-Bandai Mai stretches of the 873-km high-speed rail project connecting Bangkok with Nong Khai.
It had come in response to a petition lodged by China Railway No 10 Engineering Group against a decision made by the Comptroller General's Department's panel on awarding the contract for the two sections.
China Railway No 10 Engineering Group had won the bidding, but the department's panel ordered the State Railway of Thailand (SRT) to review the bidding result in compliance with Section 119(2) of the Public Procurement and Supplies Administration Act.
The panel's order came after another contender ruled under-qualified by the SRT petitioned the Comptroller General's Department, which on Oct 21 ruled in its favour.
China Railway No 10 Engineering Group decided to take the case to the Administrative Court which granted the injunction on the grounds that it would not disrupt public administration or the SRT's public services.
China Railway No 10 Engineering Group reportedly put in a 9.349-billion-baht bid response, about 2 billion baht lower than the reference price of 11.386 billion baht. However, the contender in question had reportedly offered the lowest price but was disqualified.