CITY TRANSPORT
ANUCHA CHAROENPO
The cabinet yesterday approved the controversial project to lease 4,000 NGV air-conditioned buses to replace old buses at the Bangkok Mass Transit Authority (BMTA). Deputy government spokeswoman Veerinthira Nathongborjarat said the new NGV buses, equipped with e-ticket and GPRS systems, will serve 145 routes in Bangkok and surrounding provinces.
The project was proposed to the cabinet by Deputy Prime Minister Sanan Khachornprasart, who was appointed by Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej to oversee the scheme.
The BMTA originally planned to lease 6,000 NGV air-conditioned buses with a budget of 111 billion baht, but the Samak administration delayed its decision in order to defuse a threat by the opposition to attack the Transport Ministry on the issue during the previous censure debate.
Ms Veerinthira said Maj-Gen Sanan had proposed to reduce the number of buses to help cut budget costs by 49 billion baht, and the cabinet agreed.
She said an evaluation will be conducted over the next three years to see if the number of buses will be enough to serve the public.
Mr Samak had earlier claimed the project would help ease the BMTA's accumulated debt of six billion baht. He expected the project to generate about 4.8 billion baht profit for the agency over the next 10 years.
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