EXAT invites bids for building expressway that would improve access to Patong Beach in Phuket
The Expressway Authority of Thailand (EXAT) on Monday invited bids from private firms for the proposed 14-billion-baht project to build an almost 4-kilometre-long expressway linking Tambon Krathu to Patong Beach in Phuket province.
EXAT governor Surachet Laophulsuk said that bidding documents could be bought from December 26 to January 25 and interested parties should submit their bid envelopes in early March.
The EXAT will take about six months to consider the bids and the winner would be announced late next year.
He said work on construction of the 3.98km Krathu-Patong expressway in Krathu district would begin in 2024 and the expressway would be opened to motorists in 2027.
Surachet said the project would cost around 14.67 billion baht – 5.792 billion baht for land expropriation and 8.878 billion baht for construction.
Currently, the popular Patong beach can be accessed only via a mountainous route that is difficult to drive on for people unfamiliar with the road and accidents happen frequently, especially on the downhill sections. When the road was hit by landslides following heavy floods, access to the beach was cut off for several days during maintenance.
Real estate experts believe the expressway would lead to more development at the beach and the surrounding areas, as it would cut travel time by more than half.
Surachet said the expressway would be a PPP (public private partnership) Net Cost project, meaning the EXAT would pay for the land expropriation and the private firm would bear the construction expenditure, as well as the operation and maintenance cost.
The bid winner would be allowed to collect expressway toll for the next 35 years and ownership of the expressway would be transferred to the EXAT once construction is completed under the Build-Transfer-Operate model.
The expressway will be an elevated road with four lanes in each direction and it would have a tunnel in the middle.
The construction would take no longer than four years.
The governor said the EXAT’s studies showed that the expressway would be used by some 35,000 motorcycles and 36,000 vehicles with four or more wheels a day.
A motorcycle will be charged 15 baht for the toll, a four-wheel vehicle 40 baht, a six-to-10-wheel vehicle 80 baht, and a vehicle with more than 10 wheels 125 baht.
