K-Water to make last-day decision on flood project
Korea Water Resources Corp (K-Water) is still poring over the terms of reference of the mega-project to upgrade Thailand's water and flood management system, and will decide whether to bid on it on May 2, one day before the deadline for bid submissions,
“We have been meeting every day but our board has concerns about details in the terms of reference, especially guaranteed maximum price, in case it is hit by a natural disaster during the project period,” he said.
The combination of a tight budget for this project and the need to undertake it in a short period will result in business risks, he said.
K-Water is one of six contenders for contracts for the water projects, which will be divided into nine modules.
Another contender, the Thai-Japanese Joint Venture group, has decided to pull out of the bidding as it was concerned about the guaranteed maximum price and possible opposition from people living in the communities around the various project sites.
Plodprasop Suraswadi, chairman of the Water and Flood Management Commission (WFMC), said the Thai-Japanese group felt the projects would provide too little profit. It may wish to join in as a consulting firm instead.
He also insisted that the bidding process would go ahead.
Hydro and Agro Informatics Institute director Royol Chitradon, who resigned from the WFMC this month, had suggested that Thai-Japan JV dropped out because it had some concerns about the projects.
“Personally, I have shared those concerns,” Royol said yesterday. However, he refused to elaborate.
“It has expressed some concerns about the maximum guaranteed price of the projects during recent discussions. I told it that no matter what will happen in the future, the Thai government will not pay it more than the agreed price,” he said.
Plodprasop, who is also a deputy prime minister, said the five other qualified bidders could compete for the projects and no other firms would be brought in. The five firms are K-Water, ITD Power China JV, Team Thailand Joint Venture, Loxley, and Summit SUT Joint Venture Group.
“The qualified bidders will tender their bids by May 3. The results of the bidding will come out within 15 days,” he said.
