City Hall opposes junta's policy on Green Line

The City Hall opposes early Green Line concession extension for Bangkok Mass Transit System plc (BTSC) and proposes the government pay for its extension routes or take over the entire system.

Bangkok governor Chadchart Sittipunt said on Tuesday that the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) disagreed with the now-defunct National Council for Peace and Order's past decision to extend the Green Line concession for 30 years from 2029 to 2059 for BTSC.

The decision on the Green Line operation after the concession expiry should undergo a thorough selection process under the Public-Private Partnership Act for the sake of careful consideration, Mr Chadchart said.

The City Hall also proposed the government pay for the infrastructures of the extension routes of the Green Line to Samut Prakan and Pathum Thani provinces. If the City Hall bore the cost, it would have to collect very high fares, the Bangkok governor said.

The City Hall wanted to charge the extension route fare at 15 baht, he said.

Bangkok deputy governor Wissanu Sapsompol said that unless the government shored the cost of about 58 billion baht, the City Hall would like to hand over the whole BTS Green Line to the government.