On Tuesday the cabinet dismissed a proposal by the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) Office and Industrial Estate Authority of Thailand (IEAT) to reduce returns on investment for bidders for the third phase of the Map Ta Phut deep-sea port.
Nathporn Chatusripitak, a government spokesman for Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak, said the cabinet instead instructed the two state units to renegotiate with the bidder.
Map Ta Phut port is one of five megaprojects under the flagship EEC scheme. The auction attracted 18 companies to buy bidding envelopes, but only one bidder, a consortium led by PTT and Gulf Energy Development, qualified for all the criteria to bid on the third phase of Map Ta Phut port, worth 55.4 billion baht.
The bidding is in the form of a public-private partnership.
Mr Nathporn said the investment returns for the project should be close or on par with the rate proposed by the feasibility study conducted on Oct 31, 2018.
At the cabinet meeting, the EEC and IEAT asked the cabinet for approval on the bidder's request to reduce investment returns to the government by 2.70 billion baht from 9.31 billion proposed in the feasibility study, citing higher financial costs.
The cabinet also rejected a proposal from the EEC and IEAT on the IEAT's annual investment plan that included land reclamation in the third phase of Map Ta Phut seaport.
The IEAT planned to spend 720 million baht a year for annual land reclamation, up from 516 million.
According to the IEAT, the third phase of the Map Ta Phut seaport in Rayong is divided into two periods of development.
The first period entails the development of the superstructure, worth 47.9 billion baht, of which the IEAT will spend 12.9 billion, with the winning bidder responsible for the remainder.
The IEAT expects the first period to begin operations in 2025.
This consists of dredging watercourses and basins, construction of embankments, maritime infrastructure and ship wharves, all on 1,000 rai.
The second period is to develop the seaport's superstructure, worth 7.5 billion baht, for which the IEAT will issue terms of reference.
The second period will begin construction in 2023 and commence operations in 2025 to serve liquid gas shipments of 4 million tonnes a year.
