Prasarn to be procurement panel head

Former Bank of Thailand governor Prasarn Trairatvorakul is tipped to head a new panel triggered under Section 44 of the interim charter to supervise state procurement projects worth at least five billion baht.

A Transport Ministry source said Kan Trakulhoon, the former president of Siam Cement Group (SCG); Manas Jamveha, former Comptroller-General; and Sompol Kiatphaibool, ex-permanent secretary for commerce, would also be appointed as expert members of the committee.

Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha is prepared to sign an order to appoint the four to the panel, according to a government source.

Apart from the experts, members also consist of the director of the Budget Bureau, the Council of State secretarygeneral, the State Enterprise Policy Office director, the Attorney-General and the Comptroller-General.

The panel, which was established under a Section 44-based order, published in the Royal Gazette on Thursday, will be responsible for supervising, expediting, following up and examining the state procurement projects from the early steps of making a procurement plan to contract expiry.

It looks at state procurement projects worth at least five billion baht.

The order also specifies seven doubletrack railway projects, worth 129.8 billion baht, which would be subject to supervision by the committee.

They cover the Thanon Chira Junction-Khon Kaen section, the Map KabaoThanon Chira Junction section, the Lop Buri-Pak Nam Pho section, the Nakhon Pathom-Hua Hin section, the Hua HinPrachuap Khiri Khan section, the Prachuap Khiri Khan-Chumphon section, and the Chachoengsao-Kaeng Khoi route.

This followed another Section 44-triggered order on Thursday which removed the governor and the entire board of the State Railway of Thailand (SRT) following alleged irregularities in the agency’s double-track railway projects.

Under t he order, SRT governor Wuthichart Kalyanamitra was transferred to the Prime Minister’s Office, while a new board of directors was formed.

Deputy Transport Minister Pichit Akrathit said the two orders were issued to to ensure a swift and transparent process for state procurement schemes, particularly the SRT’s projects.

The 2016-2017 investment budget amounts to more than two trillion baht, Mr Pichit said.

The government was concerned about the SRT’s management system, which it feared would be unable to deal with the current procurement methods which have become more complex, and that it decided to bring in the panel to supervise the matter, he said.

“The committee has the power to consider revoking the projects regardless of whether their bidding process has finished or not,” said Mr Pichit.

He said the supervision of the procurement process might delay some projects though it would be worthwhile to have projects which are transparent.