In a blow to Bangkok’s mass-transit plans, bidding for the Orange Line to link the east and west of the city was cancelled on Wednesday.

Kittikorn Tanpao, deputy governor of the Mass Rapid Transit Authority of Thailand (MRTA), said the project’s selection committee had scrapped the current tender process for the Bang Khun Non-Min Buri (Suwinthawong) line.

The MRTA, which comes under the Transport Ministry, will now issue a cancellation notice and restart the entire auction process.

The move came after Bangkok Mass Transit System Plc (BTSC), a potential bidder, successfully petitioned the court last September for a reversion to the original bidding criteria.

The new auction will consider private bids according to criteria covering 30 technical points and 70 price points.

The Bt128.13-billion Orange Line project is being run as a 30-year public-private partnership.

 

The MRTA said it has constructed 70 per cent of the Orange Line’s eastern section from Thailand Cultural Centre to Minburi, which is set to open in 2024. The second-phase western section from Thailand Cultural Centre to Bang Khun Non is scheduled to open in 2026.

 

 

The Nation