Finance Minister Apisak Tantivorawong said after a meeting of the Public Private Partnerships (PPP) Policy Committee that the panel wanted the project to enter the PPP fast-track process.

Trains would run on the 193.5-kilometre railway at speeds of up to 250km/h. However, the Transport Ministry will have to review whether the project needs participation from the private sector, the types of investment and the route’s operation, Apisak said.

“This meeting did not yet finalise the Bangkok-Rayong high-speed-railway construction project, so the committee has asked the Transport Ministry to review its plan for this project and submit it at the next meeting,” he said.

The five projects to be moved up are expected to cost about Bt334 billion.

Three are rail projects – the Pink Line’s Khae Rai-Minburi section, the Yellow Line’s Lat Phrao-Samrong section and the Blue Line’s two extensions from Hua Lamphong to Bang Khae and Bang Sue to Tha Phra.

Others

The other two projects are the Bang Yai-Kanchanaburi and Bang Pa-in-Nakhon Ratchasima motorways.

Some of these projects are at the stage of preparing documents before submitting them to the Cabinet for further consideration.

The Blue Line extensions are expected to be resubmitted to the PPP Policy Committee in April and proposed to the Cabinet in May.

Apisak, also chairman of the PPP Policy Committee, said the PPP Fast Track scheme would help shorten the consideration of any project |to only eight months from 24 months.

The State Railway of Thailand also reported its plan for the development of railway double-tracking to be divided into two phases. It would spend Bt129 billion on the first phase and Bt200 billion on the second.

The meeting also acknowledged the progress of amending the PPP Act to allow private participation in the government’s projects more easily so that they can be moved on faster than before.

According to the amended PPP Act, projects with investment of less than Bt1 billion do not have to |pass through the PPP Policy Committee.

Those with investment between Bt1 billion and Bt5 billion are also exempt from the committee’s consideration if they are not infrastructure projects.