Airport Rail Link project leaves the burden on State Railways
The Airport Rail Link project is believed to be suffering from business favours granted to private companies, resulting in an estimated increased burden of Bt2.8 billion to the State Railway of Thailand (SRT), that agency's chief finance officer, Arak Ratbaraharn, said yesterday.
The project will link Suvarnabhumi Airport to inner Bangkok. Arak said Bt1.6 billion of the total Bt2.8 billion was from front-end fees paid to loan creditors, which are financial institutions. The remaining Bt1.2 billion is from total interest calculated from the delay of an estimated 398 days before the project's delivery due date of November 5. Previously, the contractors asked for a 552-day extension of the project. "The SRT in fact should not pay front-end fees at such a level, higher than the market rate," Arak said, adding that one cause of the delay was the SRT's failure to deliver the land for construction. This, therefore, became the reason for the contractors asking for an extension on delivering the project's construction. However, Arak said that a committee recently established and chaired by deputy SRT governor Nakorn Chantasorn would be assigned to investigate who was responsible for this case, which occurred during the term of the previous SRT governor. Moreover, he said the committee would negotiate with the contractor before August 5, to finalise how long the delay of the project delivery should be extended. The Airport Rail Link project's contractors are B Grim International, Siemens, B Grim MBM Hong Kong and Sino-Thai Engineering and Construction. The project's civil-engineering work would cost Bt25.9 billion.
Watcharapong Thongrung The Nation
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