The State Railway of Thailand (SRT) governor Prapas Chongsanguan has reiterated his opposition to the National Council for Peace and Order’s plan to develop the Makkasan Airport Rail Link station in to a new passenger van hub.
Mr Prapas said that to allow the NCPO to use the land would cripple the SRT’s ability to pay back close to one hundred billion baht in debt to the Finance Ministry.
He first voiced his opposition against the van hub plan on Wednesday and insisted again yesterday that the SRT could never allow the Makkasan station land to be used permanently for that purpose.
This is because, he said, the SRT already planned to lease out the Makkasan plot, along with another plot at the Mae Nam station in Yannawa district of Bangkok, to the Finance Ministry in a trade-off to pay the debts it had incurred. The lease would be for 90 years, he said. “These are as of land are extremely valuable and if any parts of the mare cut off, the remaining parts will lose value dramatically. So, on behalf of the SRT, I can’t agree with the request to use the land permanently,” Mr Prapas said.
The SRT only has these two large plots of land left to make use of, he said, adding that it was considering hiring a consultant to assess the actual value of the two plots before leasing them out to the ministry.
The Makkasan station land was about 497 rai, while the Mae Nam station was 277 rai in size, he said.
The Makkasan plot would likely be developed in to an entertainment complex, while the SRT’s train maintenance facility currently on the Makkasan plot will be relocated to Saraburi’s Kaeng Khoi district.
An SRT source said the Makkasan plot alone was worth about 400 billion baht in the most recent appraisal carried out late last year.
Chulalongkorn University has been hired to study the feasibility of developing the Makkasan land, said the same source.
The rent the ministry will have to pay on the land to the SRT will be deducted from the debt the SRT owes the ministry, Mr Prapas said. The SRT had already held talks with the ministry over the idea but they were shelved when parliament was dissolved, he said.
Mr Prapas also said he had previously briefed ACM Prajin Juntong, head of the NCPO’s economic team, about the problems he was facing managing the SRT.
During the briefing, he said, he had also informed ACM Prajin about the SRT’s idea to lease out the Makkasan station and Mae Nam station plots to the Finance Ministry.
ACM Prajin told him that that was a good plan and the SRT should go ahead with it, Mr Prapas said.
Of the nearly one hundred billion baht debt, about 40 billion baht was loans the SRT sought to fund the the past government’s free train service, Mr Prapas said.
The NCPO has decided to ban all passenger vans from parking on roads around Victory Monument in an attempt to tackle traffic congestion in the area.
They have chosen Makkasan station as the city’s new passenger van hub.
The new system will begin a trial run on Monday, and take full effect on July 1.