No ‘secret deals’ in high-speed rail, expressway projects: Suriya

Transport Minister Suriya Jungrungreangkit on Tuesday rejected opposition allegations that his ministry had made a secret deal with the contractor of the high-speed railway linking three airports, which allegedly cost the government over 100 billion baht.

During Monday’s censure debate, People’s Party MP Surachet Pravinvongvuth alleged secret deals had been made between ministers and investors connected with Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra’s father, former PM Thaksin Shinawatra.

Surachet claimed that these deals were related to 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, he said, the government will fund the ongoing construction, instead of paying once the project is completed. 

In response, Suriya said the contract amendment was necessary to allow the contractor to pay 10.67 billion baht on time for the right to operate the Airport Rail Link. He said the train operator had suffered huge losses due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, which had drastically reduced the number of commuters. 

“We had only two choices: Amend the contract, or revoke it and put the project up for bidding again,” said Suriya, who also doubles as a deputy prime minister.

“The second option could be illegal, as the pandemic which had prevented the operator from paying on time is considered a force majeure, not to mention that the rebidding process would further delay the project for another three years.”

Suriya added that scrapping the contract would affect investors of projects in the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) area, who have spent over 1.8 trillion baht in commercial development projects that will benefit from the high-speed rail linking Suvarnabhumi, Don Mueang, and U-Tapao international airports.

Suriya also said that the amendment had not yet been finalised and that the government would carefully consider the new terms with the related agencies, including the Office of the Attorney General, to ensure its legality and that the country was not at a disadvantage.

“The amended contract would require the contractor to put up a collateral of 160 billion baht to guarantee project completion,” he said. “Furthermore, by paying for ongoing construction, the government would save money on interest and end up paying less, at 125.93 billion baht, instead of the original amount of 149.65 billion baht.”

As for Surachet’s allegation of the second deal involving expressway expansion projects worth 34 billion baht, Suriya insisted that these are not “useless” projects introduced only to allow concessionaires to continue benefiting from the expressways as claimed by the opposition MP. 

Suriya said the second deck added to the Ngam Wong Wan-Rama IX expressway would allow smooth running of up to 1.2 million vehicles daily, well above the road’s existing capacity of 900,000 per day. 

“The second deck will cut down travelling time from Ngam Wong Wan Intersection to Rama IX Road from one hour to 40 minutes, and allow vehicles to increase their speed from 20 kilometres per hour to 27km/h. This translates to economic benefits to motorists of about 7 billion baht per year,” he added.