Cabinet backs smaller contracts on five rail projects

The cabinet wants the State Railway of Thailand (SRT) to hire small-scale contractors within three months to construct five delayed double-track railway projects.

The move comes after the scrutiny “super board” on state procurements, recently set up to look into alleged irregularities in the SRT, decided to scrap the original terms of reference which favoured large contracts, covering all construction work, for each project to ensure rapid construction.

The high value of each contract barred smaller companies from offering bids.

The super board and the SRT board agreed to “divide five contracts for five rail routes into 13 contracts”, Deputy Transport Minister Pichit Akrathit said yesterday, adding the proposal was approved during a cabinet meeting on Tuesday.

Under the new terms of reference, now being drafted by the SRT, signal installation for each project will be separated from civil work and track construction, reducing the construction value to between 5-10 billion baht for each contract, he said.

The 13 contracts consist of nine contracts for civil work and track construction, one for tunnels, and three for signal installation, Mr Pichit added.

The five projects, worth a total of 95.8 billion baht, are the 19-billion-baht Nakhon Pathom-Hua Hin section; the 23-billionbaht Lop Buri-Pak Nam Pho section; the 28-billion-baht Map Kabao-Thanon Chira Junction section; the 9.8-billion-baht Hua Hin-Prachuap Khiri Khan section; and the 16-billion-baht Phrachuap Khiri KhanChumphon section.

To meet the cabinet’s deadline of June this year, the SRT will not wait until the terms of reference for all projects are completed, acting SRT governor Anon Luangboriboon said.

“We will hold bidding for projects whose terms of reference are finished first,” he said.

The acting governor expects the 84km Hua Hin-Prachuap Khiri Khan project will be the first to be put up for bidding because it has the least value.

The bidding should be held before the Songkran holidays in the middle of next month, he said.

Next in line are the Nakhon PathomHua Hin and Prachuap Khiri Khan-Chumphon projects.

The dual-track railway projects in the North and the Northeast will be in the last group to go for bidding, he said.

Besides the smaller value of the contracts, the new terms of reference will also be drafted to better suit certain qualifications of the bidders as advised by the scrutiny super board, in line with the other changes.

While the old terms of reference required companies to have experience in handling state projects worth at least 15% of the value of the project they are bidding for, the new one will reduce that figure to 10%, Mr Pichit said.

This is another attempt to ensure fairer competition and avoid worries that the experience requirement may set too high a bar, resulting in middle and small-sized companies being unable to join the bidding.

Mr Pichit said the new bidding process is expected to cause a nine-month delay to the five projects.