Santi blames 'politics' for trains, bmta debt

Together the firms have a combined debt worth Bt134-billion, which unless tackled, could become non-performing loans.

Transport Minister Santi Prompat admitted the ministry had failed to solve the financial problems of SRT in the short-term.

He said the ministry could not set an outline to resolve the problems due to political intervention. "For example, SRT did not have a governor for a long time as it was being politically interfered with," said Santi, adding that political uncertainty led to such a situation.

Public Debt Management Office director general, Pongpanu Svetarunvra, added that SRT owed Bt60 billion in debts while BMTA owed Bt74 billion.

"These debts are likely to become non-forming loans because both SRT and BMTA have not found solutions to repay their creditors as they lack a financial restructuring plan," said Pongpanu.

The Finance Ministry is in negotiation with Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) to ask for financial support for the Red Line project worth Bt77 billion, he said.

Combined with a JBIC loan, SRT's mounting debt could reach Bt100 billion. The JBIC loan could boost SRT debt by more than Bt100 billion.

"SRT, therefore, needs to reorganise its business structure," said Pongpanu.

Finance Deputy Minister Pradit Pataraprasit will soon propose a financial restructuring plan for SRT to the  Cabinet, he said.

For BMTA, the ministry will move to refinance debt in order to extend its debt repayment period.