We'll sort out dodgy deals: minister
The interim government would deal with all problematic projects launched by the previous regime, including the Airport Rail Link and development on Koh Chang, Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister MR Pridiyathorn Devakula vowed yesterday.
The former government had implemented many policies that aimed partly to promote political popularity and benefit their cronies, Pridiyathorn said in a speech - "2007, the Year of Putting the Economy on the Right Track"- at the 8th Annual Chin Sophonpanich Memorial Lecture One of these was the Airport Rail Link, he said, which the Thaksin government knew was not commercially viable. Because the State Railway of Thailand had no money to finance the construction of the rail project to link the inner city with the new airport, the Thaksin government awarded construction to a private company, Sino-Thai Engineering and Construction Plc. Then, the Cabinet ordered SRT to buy the project from Sino-Thai. But as the SRT had no money to fund it, the Thaksin government assigned the Finance Ministry to guarantee a loan to SRT. "This automatically means the Finance Ministry guarantees a loan to the private company," he said. Pridiyathorn said the former government circumvented the law, which forbids the Finance Ministry from providing guarantees to private companies. He also vowed to change the development plan for Koh Chang, so it would not touch areas which were national forests. The special zone should be limited only in some areas and must not cover the whole island, particularly the forests, he said. Other projects with problems include the lower operating cost that Advanced Info Service was enjoying at the expense of its competitors, he said. Pridiyathorn said there were many problems caused by the past government that the interim administration must address to ensure good governance in economic management. If the current government did not resolve them, they would post threat to the economy in the future. He urged politicians to publicly explain "the mess" created by the Thaksin government. He said the interim government was not worried about political popularity because it would not contest the next poll. "As I have exposed many irregularities, it is sad if politicians don't use this information to explain things to the people," he said.
Wichit Chaitrong The Nation
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