The proposed merger could see the government take part in or invest in the pipeline network through an infrastructure fund.

FPT operates pipelines from Bangchak Petroleum’s refinery to Ayutthaya and Saraburi provinces, while Thappline operates pipeline systems from refineries in Rayong to Pathum Thani. Merging FPT and Thappline could enhance investment for the efficient extension of pipelines into the North and Northeast as all refineries would be able to deliver fuel to customers in the provinces quickly and safely with lower costs, Siri said.

In the future, the pipeline systems may be extended to connect with Thailand’s neighbouring countries including Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia, which could lead Thailand to becoming the regional centre of fuel transport, he said.

Previously, the PTIT studied the efficiency of oil-product transport and found that trucking fuel to Lampang in the North totalled 120 million kilometres per year. If fuel transport were shifted from trucks to pipelines, the distance would be reduced to 50 million kilometres per year with consequent lower costs.

“The government should not look at only return on investment for a particular project. Instead, it should look at the country’s overall economic advantages. Having a single pipeline network would improve transport efficiency, which could lead to gains for consumers in the provinces and neighbouring countries,” Siri said.

Thailand could become the centre for fuel transport through its pipeline systems, while service providers could earn higher return on investment once fuel usage increases, he said.

Excluding oil and gold, February exports grew by 2.4 per cent, year on year.

Following the rise in gold prices last month, gold exports increased strongly by 1,051 per cent year on year to $1.89 billion.

Exports of military-drill equipment were worth about $683 million.

If these two products, along with the export of oil, were excluded from the February figures, Thai shipments would still be in negative territory – some 2 per cent lower than in the same month last year – as exports of both agricultural products and industrial goods continued to decline.

Deputy Commerce Minister Suvit Maesincee said yesterday that exports looked set to be back in positive territory for the remainder of the year, due to the brighter outlook for global trading.

However, there are still many negative factors affecting trading, including drought and resultant lower agricultural output, fluctuating exchange rates, terrorism, and the global economic slowdown, notably in China, he warned.

“Thai shipments should remain positive in the remainder of the year, despite some still worrying factors. The ministry will try to achieve the 5-per-cent export growth target under our working plans,” he said.

Exports of many products, including jewellery and ornaments, sugar, rice, fruits, chicken, hard-disk drives, auto parts, and plastic products, have already recovered to post positive growth, he added.

The ministry reported that total shipments in January and February had risen slightly, by 0.67 per cent year on year, to $34.7 billion.

Last month alone, Thailand had a trade surplus of $4.98 billion.

Drop in import value

During the month, import value dropped 16.82 per cent year on year to $14 billion.

Combined import value in the first two months came in at $29.48 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 14.54 per cent, resulting in a trade surplus of $5.22 billion for the period.

The deputy minister also said that foreign direct investment (FDI) into Thailand was now expected to be worth around Bt600 billion to Bt700 billion this year.

FDI in the first two months was valued at Bt32.44 billion, nearly double the inward investment of Bt16.5 billion generated during the same period last year.

Some 187 projects sought Board of Investment privileges in January and February, while the number of projects approved in the period was 249.

The value of new FDI reached Bt12.5 billion in the first two months, compared with just Bt2.86 billion during the same period in 2015.

Half of the investment will be borne by PAT and half will be put out to tender for the private sector to develop. The investment will start in the second half of this year, he said.

The remaining Bt40 billion will be divided into Bt8 billion a year to develop infrastructure at Bangkok Port. An information-technology system will cost about Bt3 billion to serve PAT’s five ports and provide training for its 3,800 staff to serve business expansion over the next five years.

The five ports are Bangkok Port, Laem Chabang Port, Ranong Port, Chiang Khong Port and Chiang Saen Port.

This is separate from the master plan to develop part of 2,000 rai (320 hectares) of land at Bangkok Port, located in Klong Toei district, as a commercial area.

“We cannot say how much space will be developed to be a commercial area, such as office and retail space. That depends on the master plan to develop infrastructure around Bangkok Port,” Sutthinan said.

The master plan has revised the structures that will be in the area based on the demand to develop Bangkok Port as a hub for imports and exports in the region.

The main need is for infrastructure such as a warehouse, distribution centre and office for PAT and related parties such as the Customs Department.

The rest of the space will be developed as a commercial area for retail, hospitality and other businesses.

“The master plan will require several billions of baht. That may be invested by ourselves or opened to bidding to develop under a public-private partnership. This is undergoing a study that will be finalised in the end of this year.”

The problem is that there are up to 1,000 families living in that part of Klong Toei. PAT is negotiating with them and providing them information about the master plan to develop the area and the new area that they will be moved to.

“We believe that the latest master plan can serve all of the demands of the relevant parties,” he said.

According to the aggressive five-year investment plan, some of the funds will come from PAT’s internal cash flow, which is now Bt18 billion a year.

A study is being conducted on launching an infrastructure fund. PAT now has assets worth up to Bt40 billion to serve the infrastructure fund if PAT elects to use this way to raise capital.

The private sector may be tapped to develop the commercial area.

Under the investment plan, PAT targets doubling its revenue from Bt13 billion last year to Bt26 billion in 2020.

PAT is a state-owned enterprise.

The Sanya Declaration, named after the Chinese seaside resort where the meeting was held, contains 26 points, ranging from cooperating to fight non-traditional security threats like transnational crime and terrorism, to enhancing transport connectivity.

This comes after China’s recent announcement that it would discharge double the quantity of water downstream from its Jinghong Dam until April 10. The goodwill gesture follows a request from Vietnam, which is experiencing a severe drought,together with Laos, Thailand and Cambodia.

One important goal of the Chinese moves is to increase trust between China and these countries, according to Beijing-based Southeast Asian expert Xu Liping.

“The South China Sea dispute has affected China’s reputation in Asean,” he said. “This is a way of cooperating on many fronts, not just in the traditional areas of trade, so that China can build trust.”

He noted that China is stressing the similar interests it shares with the other countries along theMekong River, long a contentious arena.

Called the Lancang in China, the river rises from the Tibetan plateau and runs through several countries before draining into the South China Sea.

But Beijing’s dam and hydroelectric projects upriver have long sparked complaints from its Aseanneighbours because of their impact on water levels and the environment.

China is backing up its proposed cooperation with financial muscle.

Li announced that China will offer preferential loans of 10 billion yuan (US$1.54 billion) and credit lines of up to US$10 billion to fund infrastructure and improve connectivity among LMC countries.

Some US$5 billion in loans will be specifically for industrial production capacity cooperation, Xinhua news agency reported.

The pledges were made in front of Asean leaders – Thailand’s Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Sen, Laos’ Prime Minister Thongsing Thammavong, Myanmar’s Vice-President Sai Mauk Kham and Vietnam’s Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh.

Observers, however, pointed out that the pledges lack details of actual implementation, choosing instead to mention most forms of cooperation in broad, vague terms.

One of the more specific suggestions is to enhance cooperation in sustainable water resources management through the establishment of a centre in China, which will involve technical exchanges, capacity building, drought and flood management, and data and information sharing, among others.

But Chaiyut Sukhsri, a technical adviser to the Thai National Mekong Committee, has expressed concern that this centre would duplicate rather than add value to existing cooperation arrangements, simply for the sake of creating a Chinese-led system.

“I cannot say I fully support it because there is already an existing system among the lowerMekong countries,” he said.

“It might be good, but I’m concerned about the duplication of work that is ongoing.”

KTO president Jung Chang-soo said the agency would try and convince actor Song Joong-ki, who has been appointed as the KTO’s presenter, to honour the request of the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT).

TAT governor Yuthasak Supasorn, meanwhile, said the actor’s visit could encourage more Thais to visit South Korea seeing as the number of visitors from Thailand had dropped to 370,000 last year, from about 470,000 in 2014, partly due to an outbreak of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (Mers) virus.

Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak said he has called on the TAT to promote the joint production of films in order to boost tourism in both countries. In response, Yuthasak said the two agencies would discuss the issue and come to a conclusion by the end of the year.

“Dr Somkid’s suggestion is inspired by the success of the film ‘Lost in Thailand’, which ignited a boom in Chinese visitors. Similarly, we could make ‘Love in Thailand’ since a lot of South Korean couples come here for their honeymoon,” the TAT chief said.

The KTO and TAT are scheduled to sign a memorandum of understanding today to boost cooperation between the two nations, as well as to combat “zero-dollar” tour packages, which are tours sold at very cheap prices but then visitors are pressured to buy expensive products and services on the side. The practice is considered to be damaging to the image of both countries.

The two organisations also aim to exchange tourism personnel.

Yuthasak said the two agencies have set targets to increase the number of South Korean visitors to Thailand from 1.37 million last year to 1.83 million by 2018, and Thai travellers to South Korea from 300,000 to 500,000 during the same period.

Tourism package

At a meeting with the Korea-Thai Committee on Economic Cooperation on Tuesday, Somkid also called on South Korea to come up with “Korea Plus 1” tourism packages by adding an additional destination like Busan, citing the success of packages for visitors to Japan that include a trip to Fukuoka.

Meanwhile, a TAT official told reporters that an increase in Thai tourists visiting Japan could be the reason why not very many were going to South Korea.

Yuthasak said the TAT and KTO would also try to push for more flights between the two countries. Since last month, 17 flights have been cut, bringing the number down to 758 per month.

Last year, South Korean visitors were the fourth largest group of visitors to Thailand, after Chinese, Malaysian and Japanese travellers. As many as 1.37 million South Koreans visited Thailand last year, recording a growth of 22.3 per cent from 2014. During the first two months of this year, the number of South Korean visitors to Thailand rose by 19 per cent to hit 332,000 visitors.

“We’re interested in all spectrum bands to be auctioned by the regulator,” he said.

True CEO Suphachai Chearavanont declined to say whether True would take part in the new round, but said the minimum bid should be set at Bt75.65 billion, the same price quoted by Jas Mobile Broadband to win a licence last December.

The starting price should be fair to TrueMove H Universal Communication (TUC), which won the 900MHz slot along with Jas, he said. If the final bid in the new round is lower, the regulator should also reduce TUC’s upfront licence fee accordingly.

“We hope the NBTC will give us fair treatment,” he said.

Somchai said that if the final price in the new round is lower than what TUC paid for the licence – over Bt76.3 billion – the NBTC should allow TUC to pay a lower upfront fee.

Lars Norling, CEO of Total Access Communication (DTAC), said that if the starting price was Bt75 billion, it was very unlikely that DTAC TriNet (DTN) would participate.

“As we’ve stated, the Bt75 billion is an unexpected excessive price or artificial demand, caused by a failing bidder,” he said.

“A re-auction should be done keeping all the rules and criteria the same, and a fair re-auction should promote the right price.”

DTAC is looking forward to more details in the information memorandum to be released by the NBTC on April 12.

Public hearing

“Most important, proper public hearings must be proceeded with to ensure that all stakeholders have an opportunity to express their views,” Norling said.

“DTN will take a proactive role in providing our further comments during the public-hearing process to support the NBTC for the successful and effective re-auction of 900MHz Lot 1 to ultimately benefit the country and consumers en masse.”

Takorn Tantasith, secretary-general of the NBTC, said the telecom committee had resolved to expand requirements to include a higher guarantee to be placed before the auction. This could range from 10 to 30 per cent of the minimum starting bid.

This is a change from 5 per cent of the starting price in the first auction, or a Bt644-million guarantee.

The NBTC proposed to maintain the starting price at Bt75.65 billion. However, after the public hearings, the price could be changed.

The telecom committee rejected the proposal DTAC sent to it on Tuesday for TUC to be eliminated from this new round.

“TUC can participate in the new bid round,” Takorn said.

DTAC has said the new round should be limited to the two unsuccessful bidders in the first round – its subsidiary DTAC TriNet and AIS subsidiary Advanced Wireless Network (AWN).

The committee will submit the re-auction plan to Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha before this week is out.

The planned new round follows the failure of Jas to pay the first instalment of the upfront licence fee and place bank guarantees for the rest by Monday’s deadline. Jas is a subsidiary of Jasmine International.

The telecom committee also agreed to appoint a nine-member working panel to evaluate the damage caused by this default. They are representatives from Office of the Attorney-General, the Council of State, the Finance Ministry, the Stock Exchange of Thailand, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the NBTC.

The panel will see what the NBTC can do next under its purview regarding the Jas case. It is expected to reach a conclusion within 30 days.

The telecom committee has already cashed in Jas’s Bt644-million guarantee for the first round as a result of its licence-fee payment default.

The SET lifted the suspension it had posted on Tuesday on trading in Jasmine shares but suggested that investors carefully make decisions on Jas’s securities and closely follow the consideration of the regulator on Jas being unable to proceed according to the conditions relating to the spectrum licence.

The lifting of the trading suspension followed the company’s provision of a clear and complete clarification of all material information to the SET.

Jas told the bourse on Tuesday that it was unable to pay the licence fee because it could not obtain a multibillion-baht bank guarantee from an unnamed Chinese partner before Monday’s deadline.

According to Jasmine’s legal adviser, the company would forfeit its deposit of Bt644 million placed with the NBTC because of the payment default. However, there was no other violation of the auction regulations, so there should be no other liability for the company.

Somchai of AIS said that although his company was in talks on a possible partnership with TOT to provide 3G service jointly on the state enterprise’s 2.1-gigahertz spectrum, AIS was still enthusiastic about spectrum auctions.

He expects the partnership agreement to be signed at the end of this month. They have already conducted a technical trial on the use of the band.

He said the lesson from the Jas case was that getting a high final bid for a telecom licence does not always mean the country will benefit. The excessively high price could also unnerve the capital and stock markets. However, he believes Jas’s bid for the licence was genuine.

The Jas case has caused the telecom market to lose Bt500 billion of its value, he said.

DTAC also believes that the proceeds from high-priced spectrum may be seen as a gain for the government in the short run, but there may be adverse consequences in the long run.

Tentative bid schedule

Tentative auction round late June

Possible starting price/Bt75.65 billion

NBTC to consider auction terms and conditions on April 12

Public hearings from April 18May 23

Final plan is expected to be published in the Royal Gazette on May 31

Bid invitations out in June