The government has successfully talked all four winning bidders into slashing prices in the water and flood management scheme and will sign loan contracts with them this month.
The negotiations, which ended on Thursday, have turned out "satisfactory" as both the government and the contractors have agreed on new prices, Prime Minister's Officer Minister Niwatthamrong Bunsongphaisan said.
Speaking after a meeting of the Water and Flood Management Commission yesterday, Mr Niwatthamrong refused to disclose the new prices, saying only that the money saved will still be spent on the scheme to ease the financial burden.
The new figures will be announced after cabinet approval is obtained next Tuesday, he said.
The four winning bidders - ITD Power China Joint Venture, Korea Water Resources Corp (K-Water), Summit SUT Joint Venture and Loxley Joint Venture - earlier offered a total of 290.93 billion baht for nine modules of water management development.
This was only 69 million baht lower than the government's median price of 291 billion baht.
The government has earmarked 350 billion baht for the scheme.