MRTA can proceed with west extension
The Supreme Administrative Court yesterday overturned a ruling by a lower administrative court on the dispute over the bidding for the construction of the Orange Line’s western extension, allowing the Mass Rapid Transit Authority of Thailand (MRTA) to proceed with the project.
The construction of the Orange Line’s western extension, which will connect Thailand’s Cultural Centre with Bang Khun Non, is currently stalled over a dispute about the bidding process.
In July 2020, MRTA invited companies interested in building the western extension to submit their tenders. However, in February of the following year, the committee overseeing the project decided to scrap the tender and call for a new round of bidding with a new set of criteria after Bangkok Mass Transit System Plc (BTSC) had already submitted its tender. The contract was awarded to Bangkok Expressway and Metro Plc (BEM).
The decision prompted BTSC to sue, claiming the decision was unfair and subjective. The Supreme Administrative Court’s ruling effectively invalidated a decision by a lower court petitioned by the BTSC, which had ruled in favour of the BTSC. In its ruling, the Supreme Administrative Court said the project committee’s reason for scrapping the first round of bidding was legitimate and in line with Section 6 of the Public-Private Partnership Act of 2019.
The MRTA’s decision to call a fresh round of bidding before all legal disputes relating to the western extension were resolved wasn’t subjective as alleged — instead, it served the project’s objectives well, said the ruling.
It said the longer the dispute drags on, the more the government stands to lose from the project’s delay, noting once the project is completed, over 400,000 people per day are expected to use the Orange Line to commute.
The court also said that since the committee hadn’t started to consider bids submitted in the first round, there were no grounds to believe that the MRTA engaged in collusion to benefit other bidders. The eastern section of the Orange Line will open in August 2025. The western section was expected to open in December 2027.