Bangkok BTS employees threaten to suspend train services if BMA fails to pay up
Some 100 staff members of the BTS Skytrain operator rallied outside Government House on Tuesday morning to demand that the government repay the 50 billion baht it owes.
The city administration owes the Bangkok Mass Transit System Public Co Ltd (BTSC) some 50 billion baht for operating the BTS extensions.
The protesters also threatened to stop servicing the extended routes until the government pressures the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) into paying up.
The BTSC employees gathered at the Chamai Mruchet Bridge opposite Government House at 10am and sent a representative to submit a letter addressed to Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha.
The letter said the BMA owes some 50 billion baht to BTSC for operating electric train services in the first and second extensions.
Their representative, Seksak Hoonsa-ard, said if their demand was ignored even after receiving the letter, they would have to consider temporarily suspending train services from Mo Chit to Khu Khot and On Nut to Bearing.
The suspension of services would be a symbolic protest because BTSC has been owed this money for more than five years, he said.
“The BTSC will have to see if the law allows these services to be suspended,” Seksak added.
“We don’t want to cause hardship for commuters, we only want the government to pay the money that is owed to us. If there is no response to our demand, we will consider stronger measures for our next move.”
NCPO was created when the Army led by Prayut ousted the Yingluck Shinawatra government in 2014.
The letter said four years have passed since Prayut signed the order, but the BMA has done nothing about the debt. It said the BTSC has filed a complaint with the Central Administrative Court, and even though the court ordered that the debt be honoured, the ruling is being ignored.
In September 2022, the court ordered BMA and its investment arm, Krungthep Thanakhom (KT), to pay the 12.6 billion baht it owes to BTSC for operating the BTS Green Line extensions since April 2017. The two agencies were to pay the debt within 180 days after the ruling.
The BTSC said accumulated interest and operating fees have pushed the debt up to 50 billion baht or so.
In 2019, the NCPO extended BTSC’s concession for the Green Line by another 30 years (2029-2059) in exchange for BTSC shouldering the money owed to it for operating the first extension. But Bangkok governor Chadchart Sittipunt disagreed with the extension so no contract has been signed, pending re-affirmation by the Cabinet.
Previous reports:
Administrative Court orders BMA to pay THB12.6 bn debt to BTSC
Cabinet to have final say on how BTSC-BMA dispute is settled
