The Laotian government was considering amending the concession with Xayaburi to provide additional incentives, such as tax or fee incentives and an extended concession period, to compensate for the higher costs and enable Xayaburi to continue to achieve the pre-set return-on-investment goal.

Details of the incentives are under consideration.Executive chairman Plew Trivisvavet said yesterday that the additional investment would bring more work and revenue to the company.

Xayaburi has commissioned Ch Karnchang for the extra construction work as an extension of the main contract because it is confident in the contractor’s ability to complete it by the 2019 deadline, the company says.

Ch Karnchang expects its total backlog of more than Bt90 billion will generate Bt30 billion a year of revenue on average until 2018.

The company also expects more revenue from new projects, such as the extensions of the Blue, Orange and Pink mass-transit lines, railway double-tracking and motorways.

It estimates a profit margin of 8-10 per cent. Ch Karnchang now holds about 30 per cent of Bangkok Expressway and Metro Co, 20 per cent of TTW Co and 30 per cent of CK Power. All these subsidiaries have shown strong performance and profitability, it says. The company will start recognising profit from them and is also counting on good contributions from other subsidiaries this year.