BMTA cancels big NGV repair contract, seeks to lease new fleet: source

A Transport Ministry official, who asked not to be named, said that at the Wednesday meeting, the BMTA board approved a request from Cho Thavee Plc to cancel the already inked joint-venture maintenance contract with SCN-Cho Thavee.

According to the source, Cho Thavee requested the contract annulment after it failed to acquire necessary spare parts needed to repair the 489 NGV air-conditioned buses.

The fleet of buses have been in service for seven years. Without spare parts to perform repairs, the buses were taken off the road. This led to complaints from many bus passengers who were unable to find air-conditioned buses and were forced to use buses without air conditioning in the Bangkok heat.

The Transport Ministry source said the BMTA should have instead sought a new contractor to repair the NGV buses, adding that repairs could be completed in just a few months.

Instead, the source said, the BMTA board approved a project to rent new 489 NGV buses to replace the broken ones.

The source said the rental fee would be about 5,000 baht per day while the BMTA earned only some 3,800 baht a day from fare collection.