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Public Debt Management Office director-general Pongpanu Svetarundra said within the next two years, Thailand's per-capita income was expected to exceed US$3,500 (Bt117,000), which would mean the country no longer met JBIC criteria for loan applicants.

The JBIC has provided loans for several mega-projects here, including the construction of Suvarnabhumi Airport, the Blue Line mass-transit project and recently the Purple Line mass-transit project.

The Finance Ministry plans to seek new JBIC loans worth Bt80 billion to Bt90 billion. Of this, Bt77 billion will go to the Red Line mass-transit project, and the rest will be for water-source and irrigation improvements and other development projects, plus the Blue Line mass-transit project from Bang Sue to Tha Phra and from Hualamphong to Bang Khae.

The ministry hopes the new loans will carry the same conditions as the Purple Line loan, which has 1.4 per cent interest and repayment over 25 years.

Finance Ministry and JBIC officials discussed details of a Bt77-billion loan for the Red Line project in Tokyo last week. If the JBIC approves it, the ministry will withdraw Bt20 billion as a first drawdown.

The ministry hopes to sign an agreement with the JBIC for the Red Line loan at the end of the year.

The JBIC has submitted the loan plan to the Japanese government. That country's Foreign, Finance and International Trade and Industry ministries are expected to make a joint preliminary consideration of it next week.

Finance Minister Surapong Suebwonglee yesterday said the mass-transit projects could be kicked off this year as planned, especially the Purple, Red, Blue and Green lines.