Opposition: Pheu Thai megaprojects serve Thaksin’s inner circle
Censure debate hears that high-speed railway and expressway projects worth nearly 200 billion baht altered to benefit business allies
Monday’s censure debate saw the Pheu Thai-led government accused of sacrificing the national interest to big-business allies in two infrastructure megaprojects worth nearly 200 billion baht.
Opposition MP Surachet Pravinvongvuth (People’s Party) alleged secret deals between ministers and investors connected with former PM Thaksin Shinawatra, father of current Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra.
He said these deals involved two mega projects worth nearly 200 billion baht: the high speed railway linking three airports (149 billion baht) and expressway expansion projects (34 billion baht).
Surachet pointed out that the concession contract for the high speed rail link was signed in 2019, but the project has yet to take off. He alleged that the debt-ridden contractor got the government to amend the contract in its favour before starting construction.
Under the new contract terms, the government will provide funding for ongoing construction, instead of paying at project delivery, he explained.
Surachet also alleged that the contractor deliberately delayed submitting documents to the Board of Investment (BOI), preventing the project from starting before the contract was amended.
“This project now poses high financial risks, as the government has paid over 100 billion baht in subsidy, as well as shouldering the cost of land expropriation and adjustments of roads, bridges, and other structures to accommodate the construction,” he said.
Surachet said the second deal involved expressway expansion projects worth 34 billion baht. He alleged that these projects were introduced because the concession contracts of expressway operators are about to expire but the owners wanted to continue benefiting.
Surachet called the expansion projects “useless” and “not worth the investment”, citing a double-deck addition to the Ngam Wong Wan-Rama IX expressway, which he said would fail to solve traffic problems.
“These projects allow the contractors to reap profits from the expressways until 2058, or the next 33 years, when they could have become state property and generated profit for the people,” he said.
