Skytrain extension work to start in '07
Bangkok Governor Apirak Kosayodhin said yesterday that construction on the Skytrain extension from On Nut station to Sukhumvit Soi 107 could start next year and hopefully be completed before he left office in August 2008.
"We are going to prioritise the Skytrain extension because people will benefit. This is going to ease traffic jams and respond to the energy-saving policy," Api-rak said. The project's environmental impact assessment has already sailed through the Office of Environmental Policy and Plan-ning, he said. The Sukhumvit line extension will stretch over 5.25 kilometres and four stations. Apirak is also planning to extend the other end of the line from Mo Chit station to Kasetsart University. The two projects are expected to add 140,000 more riders a day. Apirak said he would ask the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration Council to extend its session so that it would have time to review and approve the Skytrain extension plans. The election for Bangkok councillors is scheduled for July. "Since some of BMA mega-projects are suspended, we should be able to finance the ex-tension routes," Apirak said. A source said Apirak was rushing the plans because the incumbent council was dominated by the Democrat Party and the governor was concerned that the next one might contain too many Thai Rak Thai members who would scotch his plans. Apirak is also a deputy leader of the Democrat Party.
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