Three new multi-billion-baht motorway projects face delay as the Finance Ministry has failed to secure loans for the construction of two of them.
The projects should have been forwarded to the cabinet on Thursday, according to Transport Minister Prajin Juntong.
The troubled projects are the 196-km route connecting Ayutthaya’s Bang Pa-in district, Saraburi and Nakhon Ratchasima, and the 96-km route from Nonthaburi’s Bang Yai district to Ratchaburi’s Ban Pong district and Kanchanaburi. The projects cost 84.6 billion and 55.6 billion baht.
The Finance Ministry promised to find loans for the two projects, but it has so far failed. This prompted Deputy Prime Minister MR Pridiyathorn Devakula to discuss the issue with the Transport Ministry.
As for the other project, a 32-km route connecting Pattaya in Chon Buri and Map Ta Put in Rayong, authorities plan to use money from tolls on the existing motorway to fund its construction, which is about 14 billion baht, ACM Prajin said.
There is no problem with the last project, but because the three projects were scheduled to be considered by cabinet together, the Pattaya-Map Ta Put motorway also faces a delay. “We are considering splitting it up from the other two” in order to push ahead with its construction, ACM Prajin said.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, who chairs the State Enterprise Policy Committee, has ordered the Treasury Department to review its appraisal of the commercial value of 497 rai of land in Makkasan, owned by the State Railway of Thailand (SRT), after its earlier appraised value was deemed too small by the Transport Ministry.
Under the SRT’s land use plan, 30 rai will be used for building a railway development museum, 150 rai for a park and 317 rai for a commercial complex.
Source: http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/transport/555975/three-new-motorway-projects-face-delay
