BANGKOK – The long-delayed Sino-Thai high-speed railroad scheme looks set to shift into gear by year-end with Thailand funding all of the civil engineering work.
After a long delay, the Sino-Thai high-speed railroad scheme looks set to shift into gear by year-end with Thailand funding all of the civil engineering work.
The Cabinet yesterday gave the nod to a framework of co-operation between the Thai and Chinese governments to develop high-speed railways from Map Ta Phut to Nong Khai and Bangkok to Kaeng Khoi.
“We came up with latest conclusion that the county will invest in all of the project’s construction,” said Kobsak Phutrakul, a vice minister at the PM’s Office.
The Bangkok-Nakhon Ratchasima route would be developed in the first phase and its extension in the future.
The railway project will feature dual 1.435-metre gauge tracks and span 837 kilometres in total.
Bangkok and Beijing had set a timeframe to sign the agreement of co-operation on development of the project by yesterday or today.
The Bangkok-Kaeng Khoi route will run about 250km and require about 170 billion-190 billion baht (US$4.8 – 5.4 million) of investment.
Under the agreement, Thailand would retain ownership rights for the entire project.
This would help accelerate the commencement of construction by the end of this year.
The Chinese side would be responsible for surveying the project’s proprietary and designing the project.
The Thai side would be responsible for conducting environmental impact assessments, expropriating land and executing contracts.
The contracts will be divided into two parts.
One will cover civil engineering work and procurement and the other the electric system, rolling stock and track installation, which both sides would join in.
The resource capital for the project would come from the government’s expense budget and domestic loans plus other sources such as China’s import-export bank.
Other areas of co-operation are human resource development, technology transfer and training.
The prime minister also instructed authorities to expedite the project so that construction would start this year, as this would be the first ever high-speed railway in Thailand connecting the capital with other cities, he added.
