ITD tells SET it is begging for bank bailout, hopes to be financially secure soon

ITD secretary Worawut Hiranyapaisansakul reportedly wrote to SET on Wednesday, clarifying the company’s financial status following reports that it had failed to pay its workers, prompting them to quit or lay down tools.

In the letter, Worawut admitted that the reports were true and the company was indeed suffering from a liquidity crunch due to rising costs and dropping revenue from construction projects.

He said ITD was now in the process of seeking more bank loans to support its construction projects.

As for workers who have stopped working or have quit, he said ITD has talked them into returning and has partially paid their salaries pending new loans.

The company expects the loans to come through in the next two to three months when its situation should return to normal, he said.

ITD has hired some 20,000 workers for 25 construction projects nationwide and after many quit or stopped working, the Department of Labour Protection and Welfare stepped in. Upon speaking to ITD workers nationwide, the department learned that some 4,000 of the 20,000 workers were migrants. To allay their fears, the department promised they would be paid in full soon.

ITD reportedly began feeling the pinch from January, when several of its large construction projects in countries like Myanmar, Indonesia and Mozambique began facing problems due to clients’ failure to pay. The company had to forward advances through its own funds.

As of September last year, the company’s outstanding debt was 107.6 billion baht, and it found itself shouldering a rising interest burden. This prompted it to allocate some of its earnings to paying interest. It is also unable to seek payment for many of its government contracts because they have not yet been completed.

One of the government projects is the construction of a 5-kilometre extension of the Rama III expressway worth 7.36 billion baht, which has been making road trips to the South a nightmare due to traffic bottlenecks. The project, dubbed by Thais as the “seven generation construction”, is about 66.28% complete and is expected to be finished by June next year.

In addition to this, ITD is building a double-track railway from Map Kabao in Saraburi to Jira Road junction Nakhon Ratchasima, as well as the Sino-Thai highspeed railway’s project from Kaeng in Saraburi to Klang Dong in Nakhon Ratchasima as well as from Pang Asoke to Bandai Ma in Nakhon Ratchasima.

ITD is also building the third part of an elevated highway from Bang Khuntien in Bangkok to Ekkachai in Samut Sakhon. This construction is about 91.65% complete and should be ready by May this year.

It has also won a contract for the construction of a 1.43-kilometre extension of the No 82 elevated motorway.

In 2022, the company’s assets stood at 115.86 billion baht and debts at 104.85 billion baht. It reportedly earned a revenue of 67.83 billion baht in 2022 and suffered losses worth 4.76 billion baht.