PTT subjected to 5-35% rents

The rents are plotted in layers which are equivalent to 5-35 per cent of PTT's gas transmission revenue.

Energy Minister Piyasvasti Amranand said on Thursday that the Energy Ministry proposed the layers of rents based on PTT's gas transmission revenue to wrap this issue up as soon as possible. The approach would not raise further questions on how much PTT would gain in the future and it should be acceptable to the Finance Ministry. 

"We came up with the approach to win the Finance Ministry's approval and to end this. Indeed, the Finance Ministry should be the one who wraps this thing up, as legally the ministry can't lease the pipelines to anyone but PTT. If this conflict remains, PTT could end up using the pipelines for nothing," he said.

 He also noted that PTT should not be charged of rents, as the Finance Ministry already factored in the value of the pipelines in PTT's initial public offering. Selling shares in PTT in the IPO, the ministry netted gains from the pipelines while PTT still has to take care of liabilities incurred from the construction. "This case can't be compared with the rents levied on MBK Centre for its land lease," he asserted.

- The Nation