Last month when the Transport Ministry announced that investment would be delayed for a month, only stock investors were spooked, for this had been anticipated for some time. Construction companies witnessed a slight fall in share prices. Some newspapers even ran the report on an inside page, unlike the day the scheme was first announced, when reporting claimed a prominent space on front pages due mainly to its grand scale and benefits to the metropolis.

Some Thai companies which had expressed the intention to bid for the project even sighed with relief: they were given more time to digest the information before having to come up with probably their most complicated bidding proposals ever. The greatest sufferers were perhaps property companies developing projects along the train routes, not to mention a public impatient for alternative means of travel.

The delay is not surprising, though: in a way it is yet another sign of the government's unreadiness to push through the Bt555-billion investment. Ever since it was conceptualised, the project has drawn criticism, first for an over-ambitious 300-kilometre system and then over financing terms. On top of that the map was redrawn several times. The straw that broke the camel's back, however, seemed to be the proposal to trade Thai chicken, rice and shrimp for the heavy machinery and other investment.

Yet the biggest braking factor was conceivably the complicated nature of the terms of reference.

A source from a subway-operating company admitted he had never seen terms like this before.

Under them consortiums would be allowed to swap members with one another when bidding on different routes, because the criteria for construction techniques, experience and financial strength are different for each route. That means an operator that appeared on the list of bidders for the Pink Line could also appear on the list of bidders for the Purple Line.

It is hard to understand how this is going to happen. Imagine that a particular operator knows details of the bid of a consortium for the Pink Line but is closer to some joint bidders for the Purple Line who are also forming another consortium for the Pink Line. This is a gourmet recipe for collusion.

"The fact is," the source said, "that while there are many companies out there that manufacture rolling stock, there are only a few subway-operators." That being the case, an operator could appear on the list of joint bidders in more than one consortium.

Another point of concern is that the government has no clear list of development techniques. It is up to the bidding consortiums to decide which techniques will get highest points from the selection committee.

Then there are the obscure financing proposals: here too the consortiums have to offer what they think will find most favour in the eyes of the committee.

A further complication is the permission for the consortiums to re-route the lines to where they consider them most viable.

To people in the industry, this is quite a headache. Transport Minister Pongsak Ruktapongpisal attributed the delay in the investment to a request by potential bidders for more time to consider details before submitting their proposals in May.

The bidders should indeed take a month before finalising if they are going to redraw the mass-transit map. They should take into account the environmental impact of the new routes, which could take a while before they can proceed to the investment.

In his speech on Friday, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra vowed to proceed with the mass-transit development, which was highlighted as a major factor sweeping up votes in Bangkok for Thai Rak Thai in the last election.

Initially, though, it will be interesting to see if the Transport Ministry receives any proposals at all on May 28.

More interesting is what options the ministry will come up with if some routes fail to attract the interest of investors.

Achara Deboonme

The Nation