SRT, EECO given until yearend to resolve airport link dispute with Asia Era One
The Eastern Economic Corridor Office (EECO) and State Railway of Thailand (SRT) have been instructed to resolve disputes with a CP-led consortium over amendments to the high-speed railway project within this year.
Deputy Transport Minister Surapong Piyachote said the SRT and EECO need to end disputes with the CP-led Asia Era One over amendments to the contract to build a high-speed railway linking Don Mueang-Suvarnabhumi-U-Tapao airports before the project can go ahead.
The project has been delayed since the original contract was signed on October 24, 2019. The delay was seen as being caused by the government’s failure to expropriate land and hand it over for construction in time.
The consortium also demanded that the government amend the original contract and take into account the loss of revenue incurred by the Airport Rail Link during the Covid-19 pandemic. The Airport Rail Link will be part of the three-airport railway.
Though the government had promised the Airport Rail Link would bring good revenue, the number of passengers had dropped during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Surapong, meanwhile, admitted that the SRT failed to hand over a key part of the construction area from Bang Sue to Don Mueang airport due to an overlapping area with the Sino-Thai high-speed railway project. The EECO, meanwhile, could not deliver the construction area in Rayong due to complications in the original contract.
Surapong said the SRT was instructed to resolve the dispute within this year.
Meanwhile, Commerce Minister Phumtham Wechayachai has also instructed the EECO to negotiate an end to the dispute within 2023.
Surapong said once the dispute is resolved, the Cabinet will be asked to consider approving the amended contract by January.
Surapong said construction could take three years, so if it begins by early next year it can be completed within the tenure of the Pheu Thai government.
