Rapid bus system still on schedule
The Bangkok Metropolitan Admin-istration (BMA) is still aiming to begin construction work on its stalled Bangkok Rapid Bus Transit (BRT) system when Bangkok governor Apirak Kosayodhin gives initial approval, a deputy governor said yesterday.
The scheme to improve public transport in Bangkok has been stalled by the Thaksin Shinawatra Cabinet and the Bangkok Mass Transit Authority (BMTA). The first two stages of the BRT project are the 19.5-kilometre Nawamin-Kasetsart-Mor Chit route, which would cost Bt628.79 million (for road alterations); and the 16.5-kilometre Chong Nonsee-Ratchaphruek-Bangkok Bridge route, slated to cost Bt661.21 million. Following a discussion with the BMA Traffic and Transport Department about the project's progress, Deputy Governor Bannasophit Mekwichai said she had instructed officials to look for alternative methods to get final approval and present them to Apirak today. An official from the BMA said one alternative was to use the Cabinet resolution, which allows public transport vehicles to apply for a permit directly from the Transport Department. Once the project had received approval, the BMA would sign the contract with bid-winner Unique Engineering & Construction Co Ltd and Asean Engineering Consultant Co Ltd, and begin construction of the Chong Nonsee-Ratchaphruek-Bangkok Bridge route within two months, Bannasophit said. Construction would take up to eight months to complete and the rapid bus service would be free-of-charge during a six-month trial period to encourage people to use public transport, she said. Construction of the Nawamin-Kasetsart-Mor Chit route would go ahead when the 5.1-kilometre Skytrain extension from Phaholyothin to Mor Chit had been approved (to operate in conjunction with it), the BMA official said.
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