Only one company has bid for the commercial development of Krung Thep Aphiwat Central Terminal despite three firms having purchased invitations to tender, the State Railway of Thailand (SRT) announced on Friday.
Ekkarat Sriarayanpong, head of the SRT governor’s office, said the SRT had four projects that recently opened for bidding. First was the commercial use project the SRT expects to have a private company develop, covering 47,675 square metres at the central terminal.
Three companies procured invitations to tender: Central Pattana, King Power Suvarnabhumi and Prem Group Engineering. However, only Prem Group Engineering ended up bidding, Mr Ekkarat said.
The second project is managing a 2,303m² advertising space at the central grand station. Plan B Media and King Power International purchased invitations to tender, but neither has bid for the project, he added.
The third project is to develop a 3,759m² space at 12 stations on the Red Line electric commuter train service, which connects the central station to the Rangsit area in Pathum Thani. No one purchased an invitation to bid, Mr Ekkarat said.
The fourth project is to manage 2,080m² of advertising space at the 12 Red Line stations. Plan B Media and King Power International also bought invitations to tender but elected not to proceed.
Mr Ekkarat said after the deadlines to submit the bidding proposals for all four projects ended in the middle of this week, only one company — Prem Group Engineering — bid for the first project.
The SRT will review the company qualifications and will announce the result next Thursday, he said.
The SRT will then check its technical proposal on Aug 15 and open the bid proposal on Aug 16 the following day.
As for the remaining three projects for which the SRT has yet to find bidders, its selection committee will conclude a report for the next board meeting to find solutions, he said.
Krung Thep Aphiwat Central Terminal, formerly known as Bang Sue Grand Station, in Chatuchak district, Bangkok. (Photo: Nutthawat Wichieanbut)