The navy’s plan to buy a new frigate will remain unchanged despite its request for a budget to fund the purchase being rejected by the House of Representatives' committee vetting the 2024 budget bill, Defence Minister Sutin Klungsang says.
Mr Sutin said on Friday that the House committee disagreed with the navy’s plan to buy both a frigate and a submarine in the same fiscal year as this would make the Defence Ministry's budget "overblown", which would run counter to the government's policy to cut budget spending and personnel.
"The plan to buy the frigate will have to be adjusted, but I insist the frigate purchase project will still go according to plan,” said the minister. "However, it may happen in other fiscal years, not the current 2024 fiscal year."
"A conclusion on the purchase of a submarine may also be reached soon. It is likely that a budget will be allocated for the purchase of a submarine. There has been concern the budget may not be enough, so we have to do one thing at a time."
On Tuesday, the special House committee tasked with vetting the 2024 budget dismissed the navy's appeal against its decision to reject the request for a budget to fund the purchase of a new frigate.
The news comes a day after Royal Thai Navy commander Adm Adoong Pan-iam appealed the subcommittee’s rejection, saying in a letter that a new ship is needed.
In the letter, Adm Adoong said a new frigate is essential to the navy's core mission of maintaining the country’s territorial sovereignty, especially since the navy is planning to decommission its current frigates over the next couple of years.
Sutin: Frigate purchase project will proceed as planned
The navy had earlier asked for 17 billion baht from the 2024 budget to fund its frigate procurement plan, which it planned to use over the next five years. Approximately 1.7 billion baht would be spent in the first year.
The new frigate would be deployed along the Andaman coast, a source said.
Mr Sutin also said that since the House committee rejected the navy's request for the 17-billion-baht budget, the money will be reinstated into the government's central budget.
The House committee vetting the budget bill on Friday decided to slash budget requests from a total of 731 state agencies by more than 9 billion baht, said Anusorn Iamsa-ard, a Pheu Thai MP who is the committee's spokesman.
Mr Anusorn said the committee will submit the budget bill for the second and third readings in parliament on March 20-21. He added that the committee also decided that the 17-billion-baht budget requested by the navy would not be returned to the Defence Ministry.