The State Railway of Thailand (SRT) board has agreed to lease four plots of land to SRT Asset (SRTA) and authorised the subsidiary to invest 5 billion baht in real estate development under the government's "Home for Thais" low-cost housing project, said Deputy SRT Governor Anan Phonimdang.
Mr Anan revealed yesterday that the four SRT land plots approved by the board on Wednesday are in Bang Sue district of Bangkok (15 rai), Pathum Thani's Khlong Luang district near Chiang Rak train station (18 rai), Bangkok Noi district near Thonburi train station (23 rai) and around Chiang Mai train station (15 rai).
The initial phase of the project is estimated to require around 5 billion baht in funding, for which the SRTA has already sealed a loan deal with the Government Housing Bank (GHB), he said.
The lease term is 30 years and can be renewed for another 30 years, he said.
He said the Bang Sue site has received overwhelming attention from prospective tenants, with more than 100,000 people having registered for a housing unit. He said the land lease fee was agreed at 36% of the appraised land prices.
The SRTA is expected to begin paying the SRT in 2027 when the SRTA starts earning income from its tenants, he said.
He added that the SRTA is mapping out details of all housing sites for submission for environmental impact assessment (EIA) approval.
SRTA acting president Supakorn Supasincharoen said that other than the land lease fee, the SRT will also be entitled to receive a dividend of around 70% of the project's net profit.
About 350,000 people have signed up for the government's Home for Thais project. Some 140,000 of them have already passed mortgage pre-approval by the GHB.
