Bidding for Purple Line

Supoj Saplom, director-general of the Land Transport Department and chairman of the MRTA, yesterday said the MRTA's board agreed the state agency could proceed with the auction after the committee overseeing legal aspects gave its opinion that the project did not violate procurement regulations.

Meanwhile, the House transport committee asked the National Anti-Corruption Commission to look into the case, citing the lack of transparency in the bidding process.

The MRTA's terms of reference set the bidding's reference price at more than Bt31 billion, but later the MRTA asked for Cabinet approval to raise it to Bt36 billion to cover rising material costs but neglected to change the price figure in the bidding documents.