The government is powerless to stop lorry operators from hiking cargo transport prices if the government refuses to meet their demand to cushion diesel prices, says Deputy Prime Minister and Energy Minister Supattanapong Punmeechaow.
He said there is no stopping the cargo transport price hike if lorry operators resort to the measure.
The government is refusing to cave in to their demand to lower the diesel price from 30 baht a litre at present to 25 baht a litre and peg the rate for a year.
"We can't prevent them from going ahead with the hike since we're in a free market," the minister said.
Mr Supattanapong added, however, that the government has drawn up a plan to mitigate the effect of any cargo transport price hike.
Last week, the Federation of Thailand (LTFT) said if the government fails to respond to the lorry operators' demand by Dec 1, they will go on strike and immediately raise cargo transport rates by 10%.
Last Tuesday, hundreds of lorries formed a traffic-disrupting convoy as they drove into central Bangkok to submit a letter demanding a lower diesel price to the Energy Ministry.
Mr Supattanapong stood his ground yesterday. He insisted no one could predict the oil price situation which revolves around several factors. Thailand must import oil and gas which are in limited domestic supply.
He said the government has maintained diesel at 30 baht a litre through a subsidy tapped from the Oil Fund.
The fund, with a balance of 7 billion baht, is used to subsidise the retail diesel price at two baht per litre, which has brought down the diesel price to the current 30 baht per litre. The cabinet recently allowed the fund to borrow 30 billion baht.
"I have no idea how the (threatened) cargo price hike will transpire.
"The government has done its utmost to keep the diesel price pegged at 30 baht a litre. I ask that everyone use oil sparingly. The government stands ready to take care of the cost of living," the deputy prime minister said.
Plans are afoot to curb rising consumer prices regardless of volatile oil prices.
Mr Supattanapong said the government has at its disposal a 500-billion-baht loan which can help.
The minister also urged people not to get too dramatic about the government planning to deploy military trucks to buttress the country's road cargo network should the lorry protest result in prolonged strike action.
Mr Supattanapong denied the trucks will pose direct competition to the lorries. They will only be put in action in case cargo transport becomes limited.
Meanwhile, Khunying Sudarat Keyuraphan, founder of the new Thai Sang Thai Party, called on the excise tax on oil to be cut to improve the competitiveness of the country's private transport operators.
