PUBLISHED : 13 Jan 2024 at 07:18
Four MPs of the Move Forward Party (MFP) have quit a House committee studying the 1-trillion-baht Land Bridge megaproject, saying they do not want to rubber-stamp a project they disagree with.
Julapong Yukate, another MFP MP, said the committee held its final meeting on Friday to endorse a study on the project despite him having protested over several issues, such as the lack of oil pipelines and no study on environmental changes having been conducted.
He said a report from the Office of Transport and Traffic Policy and Planning (OTP) also contradicts another study by the National Economic and Social Development Council (NESDC).
While the OTP said the project would yield a return of 17%, the NESDC suggested it is not worth investing in, Mr Julapong said, adding the House committee has given more weight to the OTP’s report.
He said the MFP MPs have protested, but four equated to a minority, so they decided to quit the committee, effective yesterday.
Deputy party leader Sirikanya Tansakun, one of the MPs who quit, said that during a meeting on Dec 22, they asked the OTP to clarify the project’s cost-effectiveness, the type of ships that would use the services provided by the project, and the volume of goods that are expected to go through ports.
However, the OTP did not give a reply.
The committee held its final meeting on Friday, but the chairman failed to invite OTP representatives to give clarifications and tried to get committee members to endorse the OTP’s report, Ms Sirikanya said, adding she could not endorse the report because the information was incomplete.
Suphanat Minchaiynunt, an MFP MP who also quit the committee, said the party’s MPs wanted to verify whether the project would benefit the economy as claimed.
“But we still cannot find an answer after 90 days of studying the project, and why is the OTP’s report different from that of the NESDC?
“The government is using one-sided information from a state agency [OTP] to woo investors. The committee is being used to rubber-stamp the project,” Mr Suphanat said.
The 1-trillion-baht megaproject aims to develop a logistics network connecting Ranong to Chumphon.
The project comprises deep-water ports in both provinces, a motorway cutting across the land to connect the two provinces and a railway system.