Power reform group opposes energy bills
About 300 members of the People’s Alliance for Energy Reform yesterday submitted a letter to Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha opposing bills on petroleum and petroleum income tax proposed by the Energy Ministry.
Panthep Puapongpan, a leader of the alliance, said the bills were approved by the cabinet on May 12 and the Council of State gave them the green light on July 8.
They were now expected to be fowarded to the National Legislative Assembly for debate.
He said the alliance wanted the prime minister to put the two draft laws on hold.
A similar letter would be submitted to NLA president, Pornpetch Wichitcholachai, asking him to halt passage of the bills.
Mr Panthep submitted the alliance’s letter to the prime minister through the government’s public services centre.
He was accompanied by co-leaders Veera Somkwamkid, Kongsan Phokong and ML Kornkasiwat Kasemsri.
He said the bills were unlikely to protect the interests of the country and the people as they were full of loopholes and would open the door to corruption.
The alliance would propose parallel petroleum bills presented by the people for the government’s consideration and for comparison with the legislation proposed by the Energy Ministry.
The alliance would also propose public hearings on the legislation, as the people deserved a say.
On Saturday, the alliance will release a detailed comparison of the people’s bills and the government-backed bills.
ML Kornkasiwat said the two government bills had not undergone a public hearing. The people’s proposals had not been included in the government bills either.
He said the alliance believed the draft legislation proposed by the Energy Ministry probably would benefit the private sector in the area of profit sharing.
The group said although the bills would encompass production sharing schemes between the government and investors in petroleum exploration and production, its conditions are not much different from the current concession granting system.
It said the Energy Ministry claimed the bills had passed a public hearing despite the fact the group was not involved in the process.