Board to break up rail project bids

Smaller contracts to ensure fairness

The scrutiny superboard for state procurement projects and board members of the State Railway of Thailand (SRT) have agreed to make the bidding process for five controversial double-track railway projects fairer by dividing the work into smaller contracts to increase competition.

Each rail project, which originally grouped together civil work, track construction and signal installation into one contract, will be broken into smaller contracts that will include three signal installation contracts, nine rail road construction contracts and one railway tunnel construction contract.

“The value of each contract is estimated at between 5 billion-10 billion baht,” Prasarn Trairatvorakul, the chairman of the scrutiny superboard, said after meeting the SRT board yesterday.

The joint resolution came after the Prasarn panel, which is looking into alleged irregularities in SRT’s multi-billionbaht dual-track railway projects, decided to scrap the original terms of reference (ToR) of the five projects worth a total of 95.8 billion baht.

The projects are the 19-billion-baht Nakhon Pathom-Hua Hin section, the 23-billion-baht Lop Buri-Pak Nam Pho section, the 28-billion-baht Map KabaoThanon Chira Junction section, the 9.8-billion-baht Hua Hin-Prachuap Khiri Khan section, and the 16-billion-baht Phrachuap Khiri Khan-Chumphon section.

The division of the contracts is one of three new conditions which the scrutiny superboard and SRT board want stipulated in the new ToR to ensure more transparency in the bidding process.

The benefit of reducing the size of each project is “there will be more competition and more players [bidders]”. The decision is believed to be an attempt to quell doubts over allegedly unfair bidding.

The allegations arose following a complaint filed by a Chinese constructor, which teamed up with an average-sized Thai construction firm to join the bidding. The firm complained to Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak after it failed to qualify for the SRT’s consideration.

Critics say the ToR of the five projects was drafted to favour certain construction companies, “a group of familiar giant firms”, according to a source.

Mr Prasarn said on Monday that average-sized construction companies, which have limited budgets, should be guaranteed a right to participate in the bidding.

Two other new conditions to be included in the new ToR concern the qualifications of construction companies and the machines used in the construction, the superboard chairman said.

The old ToR required constructors to have experience in handling state projects worth at least 15% of the value of the project they are bidding for. But the new ToR would reduce that to 10%, Mr Prasarn said.

Under the original ToR, constructors would have had to hand over the machines employed in the construction to the SRT once the project is complete, but the new ToR will not have this condition, he said.

The SRT board chairman Worawit Champirat said he would put forward the framework for the new ToR to the SRT board for consideration.

After the board’s approval, the ToR would be sent to the cabinet for the final decision.