The consortium contracted to supply 489 natural gas fuelled buses to the Bangkok Mass Transit Authority says its priority is to deliver the first 100 by the end of March, after seven were found damaged during customs clearance inspection at Laem Chabang port.
Suradech Taweesaengsakulthai, president and CEO of Cho Thavee Plc (CHO), said the company was made aware of damage to the buses. Compensation should be paid by Laem Chabang port.
The company was unlikely to investigate the cause of the damage. Its priority was to speed up the delivery of the first 100 buses to the BMTA before the end of March.
"There has been damage to seven buses and the port has agreed to pay compensation for two. We won't bother to find out how they were damaged. Handing over the buses to the BMTA is our priority," he said.
The buses were stored at pier C3 and the damage was revealed over the weekend when the consortium was preparing custom clearance for the release of the first 10 of them.
The discovery raised suspicions of possible attempts to delay delivery to the BMTA. The bus fleet procurement has suffered many years of procrastination and cancelled bidding and orders since it was first proposed.
In April last year the BMTA scrapped the previous 3.3-billion-baht contract with Bestlin Group when it failed to deliver the buses on time after the Customs Department accused it of evading import taxes.
The Port Authority of Thailand (PAT), which supervises Laem Chabang port, said in a statement it had looked into the matter and was ready to pay compensation for two of the damaged buses.
Three of the buses were already damaged upon arrival at the port. The glass windows were broken. The damage was properly documented and signed off.
Windows of two other buses were also found to be broken and the port would take responsibility for those.
After the buses were released from the port, tail lights on two other buses were found to be broken. Those responsible for transporting them would be held responsible for this damage, the statement said.
The 10 buses are among the 100 buses that CN-CHO -- a joint venture involving Scan Inter Plc (SCN) and Cho Thavee Plc (CHO) -- must deliver to the BMTA by the end of March. The second batch is due in May.
CN-CHO venture was the solo bidder to supply the bus fleet to the BMTA, with a price of 4.261 billion baht, about 5% above the median set price. The BMTA board accepted the tendered price in December last year.
