Hauliers have poonpirom's ear

The Land Transport Federation of Thailand urged the government to provide cheap diesel price to truck operators and subsidise the cost of fitting NGV (natural gas for vehicles) engines, or else they would stage a protest.

"We agreed with their request. However, the federation should make the request to the EPPO," Poonpirom said.

Bt2 billion from the Oil Fund has been earmarked to enable some operators to install NGV engines, and the fund also recently approved a budget of Bt2 billion to encourage taxi drivers to switch from liquefied petroleum gas to NGV.

Federation secretary-general Thongyoo Kongkhan threatened to halt trucking services if the government did not solve their problems within seven days. Meanwhile, PTT president Prasert Bunsumpun defended his company yesterday before the Senate Committee on Energy by saying that PTT shouldered the burden of oil prices to the tune of Bt5.7 billion in the first five months of the year.

He insisted that PTT's retail oil prices were not expensive compared with other Asian countries. Local retail prices could not compare with Malaysia because its government has allocated a budget to subsidise the oil price by Bt400 billion per year. Besides, Malaysian's government has revenue from LPG and other alternative fuels to offset the loss from oil prices.

The Thai government must also subsidise to the tune of Bt400 billion if it wants PTT to quote retail prices at the levels in Malaysia, he added.