China has decided to put on hold talks regarding the rail line that would link the main-land to Thailand. According to the Transport Ministry, the 300-kilometre double-track line will link Den Chai to Chiang Khong, before it links up with a line to Kunming, in China's Yunnan province.
Chula Sukmanop, deputy director-general of the Office of Transport, Traffic Policy and Planning, confirmed yesterday that the Chinese government had postponed discussions about the project's feasibility with its Thai counterparts.
The idea of getting China to invest in the railway line was brought up during Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva's visit to Beijing from June 24 to 27.
"The Chinese government has postponed the ministerial-level discussion and has not yet informed us when it will be ready to open talks. However, Thailand has been ready for negotiations since July," Chula said, adding that due to this delay, the project could not be concluded on a government-to-government policy level in terms of setting an investment model.
He said the route proposed by the Transport Ministry would link Den Chai in Phrae province to Chiang Khong district in Chiang Rai. Since there are no such links at present, it would be easy to garner investment in forms of both public-private partnership and concessions.
"According to initial evaluations, the 300-kilometre route should cost around Bt30 billion," Chula said.
The route will come under the supervision of the State Railway of Thailand, especially in terms of land expropriation and concession. A source at the Transport Ministry added that this route would be of added interest to China because not only would it link up to Thailand's nationwide railway system, it would also allow easy access to the soon to be set up Pak Bara port in Satun province.
"The rail route will allow goods to be easily moved from China via Thailand before they are loaded onto ships at the port on the Andaman coast," the source said, adding that this transportation route would be much quicker than the one currently used via Melaka in Malaysia.
The route will also boost trade between Asean countries, including China and India.
A source said Bt85 million had been earmarked for the design of the double-track Den Chai-Chiang Khong rail line, which should be completed in a year.
The source added that the negotiations had probably been delayed because China wanted to wait for its leader to announce the country's planned financial aid for Asean countries during the grouping's summit in Cha-am next month. China is expected to set up two funds: the US10-billion (Bt336 billion) China Asean Fund to be used for infrastructure and logistics-related development-especially in terms of the China-Singapore rail-way project-as well as the $15-billion China Asean Loan.
Friday, September 25, 2009
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