Vajraput Vajrabhaya, general manager for new business and strategic planning, said the slow-down in new construction investment was because of the ongoing political uncertainty.

Nawarat's revenues this year will come from its backlog, worth about Bt7 billion. About 40 per cent of this is structural work and the rest civil engineering. Seventy-three per cent is government projects, 17 per cent is private-sector work and 10 per cent for international firms.

"If the company cannot win any new projects, the current backlog is expected to feed it over the next two years," Vajraput said.

However, Nawarat expects to realise losses of about Bt500 million this year as a result of higher costs for steel and concrete. It has not had any new projects with which to offset the retained losses. "The company's accumulated losses should grow to Bt700 million," Vajraput said.

"This is not a great year for the construction industry, because there have been fewer new projects for which to bid, resulting in higher competition."

Currently, Nawarat has a 3-per-cent share of the domestic construction market. Its ranking has slid from to eighth place, sixth place last year. Italian-Thai Development leads the market with a 40-per-cent share, followed by Sino-Thai Engineering and Construction with 17 per cent and Ch Karnchang with 16 per cent.

Nawarat senior vice president Pasan Swasdiburi said the company was keen to participate in bidding for as many new projects as possible. Among them are Bangkok's commuter-train Red Line linking Bang Sue and Taling Chan, with a projected value of Bt8 billion, and civil-engineering works for the electric-train Purple Line, worth Bt12 billion.

He said Nawarat would join with Japanese firm Obayashi in bidding for both projects.

As well, the company expects to bid for the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration's wastewater treatment project, worth Bt4.5 billion; PTT's liquid-natural-gas terminal and storage-tanks project, Bt2 billion; the Samut Sakhon Provincial Waterworks Authority project, Bt1.5 billion; a bridge-construction project in Phnom Penh, US$80 million (Bt2.77 billion); and a 10-kilometre ocean-bridge project in Qatar, Bt4 billion.

Watcharapong Thongrung

The Nation