The Public Private Partnership Committee on Monday gave the green light for construction of two new mass transit lines with a combined investment of 110 billion baht.
The panel, chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak, agreed to the Pink Line between Khae Rai to Min Buri and the Yellow route between Lat Phrao and Samrong as joint ventures involving the public and private sectors.
The cost of the Pink Line is estimated at 56.6 billion baht and building the Yellow Line at around 54.6 billion baht. The two lines will be electrically powered monorail trains.
The state will be responsible for land expropriation, and the private sector will bear the costs of civil works, the train systems and maintenance and fees for project advisers in exchange for operating the lines for 30 years, Ekniti Nitithanprakas, director-general of the State Enterprise Policy Office, said in a statement released after the meeting.
To attract investors, the state was willing to partially subsidise the project, but not in excess of the cost of the civil construction, he added.
The committee has assigned the Bangkok Mass Rapid Transit Authority of Thailand to prepare detailed studies of the two projects, to be sent for cabinet approval by the end of March.