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Published on January 19, 2008

Speaking after a meeting with PTT on the pipeline rental rate, Chalongphob said the Finance Ministry and PTT had yet to finalise the matter due to a disagreement over the base level for pipeline revenue.

"We have yet to settle the base pipeline revenue, as revenues over the past five years do not serve perfectly for the calculation. We initially calculated that the PTT pipeline revenue to be transferred to the Finance Ministry should be Bt5.7 billion, but now that figure is likely to be reduced.

PTT gave us information stating that the figure was wrongly calculated, because some parts of the system would not be transferred to the ministry. PTT's argument is sound," he said.

Moreover, the Finance Ministry's plan - that the revenue, after deduction for expenses, should be divided into three equal parts and shared by the Finance Ministry, consumers and PTT - is difficult to realise, the minister said. In reality, it is unlikely to give one-third of the revenue to the public because the pipeline revenue is considered government income.

If the ministry insists on giving one-third to the public, the Energy Ministry would have to be involved in the decision. The Committee to Supervise the Energy Business would have to be in the decision-making process, he added.

Nonetheless, Chalongphob said the ministry and PTT should be able to conclude the pipeline rental figures by Monday, before reporting the outcome to the Cabinet the following day.

The Nation