MRTA receives only three Purple line bids

ItalianThai, Ch Karnchang and SinoThai Engineering and Construction remain the key bidders.

MRTA deputy governor Yiamchai Chatkaew said 16 bid documents were bought in May, but only three were submit¬ted. Leading the first bidding consortium was Ch Karnchang, which teamed up with Japanese firm Tokyu Construction. ItalianThai led the second consortium, partnered with Nawarat Patanakarn and Japan's Obayashi. SinoThai has no partners.

"The only difference from the list of bid¬ders for the first contract is the emergence of Nawarat and Obayashi. This convinces many that ItalianThai may win the first contract, with Ch Karnchang tipped to win the second one," said a Transport Ministry source.

The second contract covers construction of 11 kilometres of rail from the Rama III Bridge, entailing eight stations.

The MRTA's deadline for bids for the third contract is tomorrow. SinoThai, the Kingdom's thirdlargest construction com¬pany, is expected to win the deal.

The three companies had submitted bids for the first contracts by last Thursday, although 14 sets of bidding documents were sold.

For three years, the average annual turnover of a qualified bidder for the first and second sections must be at least Bt10 billion. Only the top three fit the condition.

The minimum turnover of a qualified bidder for the third section must be Bt5 bil¬lion, raising the number of qualified bidders to five.

The three contracts' value was recently raised 15 per cent to Bt36 billion, due to the higher cost of raw materials.