Foreign entities among eight firms interested so far in bidding for Patong expressway project
Eight Thai and foreign firms have so far purchased bidding documents from the Expressway Authority of Thailand (EXAT) to build an almost 4-kilometre-long expressway linking Tambon Krathu with Patong Beach in Phuket province.
EXAT governor Surachet Laophulsuk said the authority has been selling the request for proposal (RFP) documents for the 3.98km Krathu-Patong expressway project, estimated to cost 14 billion baht, since December 26 and eight firms have bought it so far.
Sale of the RFP documents will continue until January 25. The EXAT will call on the document buyers to submit their envelopes on April 7, Surachet added.
A source from the EXAT said each bidder would be required to submit four envelopes stating the bidder’s qualifications for the project; the technicalities involved in the construction; the total investment and returns; and, other proposals that would benefit the services.
The source said that in order to qualify, the bidder must secure at least 85% of points for each envelope and 90% for all the conditions.
The first envelopes will be opened on April 28 and the winner is expected to be announced late this year.
Surachet said Chinese and South Korean investors were among those who had bought the RFP documents.
“The EXAT is open to both Thai and foreign investors for this project but there is a condition that the consortium bidding for the project must be led by a Thai entity,” Surachet said.
The EXAT source clarified that a Thai entity must hold 51% stake in any consortium that bids for the project and the Thai entity must have been registered for at least three years.
Work on the construction of the 3.98km Krathu-Patong expressway in Krathu district will begin in 2024 and the expressway would be opened to motorists in 2027.
The expressway would be a PPP (public private partnership) net cost project, meaning the EXAT would pay for land expropriation and the private firm would bear the construction expenditure, as well as the operation and maintenance cost. The land expropriation cost would be 5.792 billion baht and the construction cost would be 8.878 billion baht.
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.
According to studies by the EXAT, the expressway would be used daily by some 35,000 motorcycles and 36,000 vehicles with four or more wheels.
A motorcycle will be charged 15 baht for the toll, 40 baht for a four-wheel vehicle, 80 baht for a six-to-10-wheel vehicle, and 125 baht for a vehicle with more than 10 wheels.
Related story:
EXAT invites bids for building expressway that would improve access to Patong Beach in Phuket
