The Metropolitan Electricity Authority (MEA) says it's ready to put all power lines in Bangkok underground over the next five years after another tranche of 48 billion baht was budgeted for the project.
The budget is reduced from 51.7 billion baht set last June, when the MEA began the plan to bury power lines and other cables with a total length of 127 kilometres.
MEA assistant governor Tepsak Titaraksa said the project, dubbed Smart Metro Part I, is to be undertaken during 2018-22.
Mr Tepsak said construction costs are down from the previous estimate because some of the burden is to be shared with telecom companies such as TOT Plc and CAT Telecom, which also make use of power lines and electricity poles.
Terms of reference are being drafted for an auction to take place in the third quarter of 2017 to allow private firms to bid on construction, he said.
Mr Tepsak said some parts of the project are to be built along the path of subways and skytrains that are still under construction or are about to start construction, including the Yellow and Pink line monorails whose construction is due to start in the second half of the year.
"We designed the project to be alongside Bangkok train projects from their inception," he said.
The development cost of underground electricity lines is estimated to be 200-300 million baht per one kilometre, or around threefold more than normal above-ground power lines, said Mr Tepsak.
The MEA yesterday conducted a workshop with representatives from the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA), TOT, CAT Telecom, the tap water utility and the telecom regulator to ensure a smooth process when the project starts.
The first phase of the plan involves grouping all existing overhead power, telecommunications and broadcasting cables into a single platform below ground along 39 roads in Bangkok, Samut Prakan and Nonthaburi. This work is scheduled to be completed in 2022, five years ahead of the original schedule.
The MEA already developed a 45.5km underground power line worth 10 billion baht, and installation is expected to be completed by the end of this year.
The BMA will manage and address any possible problems affecting people during construction, while the police will help manage traffic during the project. TOT will take charge of constructing an underground system costing around 3 billion baht to compile all existing telecom and broadcasting cables into a single platform.