Zoning system faces the axe

The government will consider scrapping the zoning system for its Bt8-billion-a-year free milk programme for public schools around the country to eliminate long-running corruption concerns.

At present, three procurement zones are used, with the first covering 17 northern provinces, the second 22 western and southern provinces, and the third 36 central, eastern and northeastern provinces.

The recent spoiled milk scandal has been blamed on abuse of the zoning system by unscrupulous suppliers.

Pupils at many state schools have received poor-quality fresh milk.

Deputy Premier Korbsak Sabhavasu, who yesterday chaired a meeting of six ministries jointly responsible for the free milk programme, said the government would also inspect all 71 dairy plants to see if they meet standards.

If they do not, supply contracts would be suspended.

The government is also considering boosting the budget by Bt3 billion to a total of Bt11 billion this year to cover more students, he said.

At present, 5.3 million students from first to fourth grade are in the scheme. It will be extended to 1.9 million students in the fifth and sixth grades.

The production cost of a pack of pasteurised milk and pack of UHT milk for each student is currently Bt5.67 and Bt5.25, respectively, but the median price is set as high as Bt6.57 per pack.

Over the past several years, the free milk scheme has been prone to graft, which has seen children given inferior quality or spoiled milk.

The zoning system is said to have restricted competition and allowed substandard products to get through.

Government sources said procurement specifications were also rigged in favour of 71 existing factories that supply fresh milk to state schools countrywide.

As a result, the government should also consider revising the specs and inviting new bids from suppliers to resolve problems caused by substandard products.

Besides milk gone sour, some fresh milk supplies were found to have less fat than the standard requirement, officials said.

The free milk programme is jointly managed by the Agriculture, Science, Commerce, Education, Industry and Public Health ministries, as well as the Dairy Farming Promotion Organisation.

The project was also aimed at helping local dairy farmers sell their fresh milk to nearby factories, which hold the contract to supply packaged milk products to schools in their zone.

However, dairy farmers recently launched protests against the government, as they could not sell their fresh milk due to an oversupply estimated to be about 300 tonnes a day.