News from Thailand – June 20, 2014

The newspaper will come back to it again today: the planned relocation of minibuses from Victory Monument to a site near Makkasan ARL station. Governor Prapas Chongsanguan of the State Railway of Thailand (SRT) opposes the intention of the military authority.

When the land is ceded, the SRT will run into problems paying off a 100 billion baht debt with the Ministry of Finance, he says. The SRT wants to lease the 497 rai site together with a plot near the Mae Nam station (277 rai) to the ministry in order to get rid of the debt. The lease has a term of 90 years.

It is intended that the site at Makkasan will be developed into an entertainment complex; the maintenance department of the SRT would then move to Kaeng Khoi in Saraburi. According to the most recent valuation, the site is worth 400 billion baht. Chulalongkorn University has already been hired to conduct a feasibility study and the SRT has also held talks about the deal with the Treasury, but they were halted when parliament was dissolved.

Of the 100 billion baht debt, 40 billion is debt incurred to fund free rail transport on some routes, a policy of the Abhisit government, continued by the Yingluck government.

The military authorities want the minibuses away from Victory Monument and surrounding streets because of the chaotic traffic situation.

– Even more Railways. The SRT will fight tooth and nail against efforts by the Bangkok municipality to regain control of the Chatuchak weekend market. Reportedly, the municipality would like to ask the military authority for this.

The management of the cash cow passed to the SRT (which owns the land) two years ago, when the SRT refused to renew the lease of the 68 rai. The SRT believed it could get more money from the market than the municipality.

According to SRT Governor Prapas Chongsanguan, 80 percent of the 8.480 market vendors are happy with the improved facilities. They got better toilets, better lighting and improved surveillance. Most merchants have extended their contracts until 2019. But 1.189 have not, and 618 are involved in legal proceedings with the SRT.

According to some merchants, the market is run by red-shirt guards who blackmail them. The governor calls those allegations baseless. According to the municipality, a group of merchants who call themselves 'The Chatuchak Weekend Market Vendors Cooperative' are unhappy with the high rents. They now have to cough up 3.562 baht against 300 to 600 baht when the municipality managed the market. The group would also have found irregularities.

– Coupleider Prayuth Chan-ocha has put a stop to the proposed resignation of Air Force Commander Prajin Juntong as chairman of the board of directors of Thai Airways International (THAI). Prajin had wanted to hand in his gavel yesterday to send a signal to board members of other public companies appointed by the previous government to follow his lead.

According to a source, Prayuth has ordered Prajin to remain at his post because he is needed to carry out the junta's restructuring plans. The junta has already decided to end free airline tickets for board members and their families, and more work remains to be done to reduce the company's losses.

Prajin's example has already had an effect. The chairman of the board of the MRTA (underground metro) and of the national electricity company Egat hung up their winch this week.

– The junta seems to be vigorously tackling abuses in public transport. The top priority is to set reference prices for motorcycle taxi fares, combat price gouging and eliminate the influence of gangs that extort drivers.

Yesterday, Apirat Kongsompong, charged by the junta with cleaning up public transport, inspected the queue of waiting motorcycle taxi drivers at metro station Rama IX and Central Plaza Grand Rama IX (photo homepage). According to him, thirty gangs are active in Bangkok. Former and current officials would be involved.

Apirat announced the formation of a commission to investigate involvement of the police, army and the Land Transport Department. The requirements for registration of motorcycle taxi services are being tightened. Bangkok has 4.500 registered operator, 700 have applied and 500 are illegal.

– An anti-government PDRC guard was detained Wednesday evening for assaulting a student pilot on May 9. The man was attacked while trying to clear a cone on the Din Daeng-Don Mueang toll road to reach his destination. The PDRC had blocked the way for the PBS television station.

– The suspects are known, arrest warrants have been issued, now the arrests of the three men who committed a grenade attack at the Rama IX intersection last week. A fourth suspect has already been arrested.

– The province of Chiang Rai was 'startled' yesterday morning by a few light earthquakes with a magnitude of 2,4 to 2,6 on the Richter scale. Startled in quotes because most residents didn't even notice them. Damage has not been reported.

– Drug trafficking from prisons must come to an end within a month. Authorities that fail to do so will "face the consequences," said Charnchao Chaiyanukit, permanent deputy secretary of the Ministry of Justice.

Charnchao announced yesterday that XNUMX drug offenders will be transferred to the EBI Khao Bin in Ratchaburi. The Correction Department has been asked to compile a list of prison officers suspected of involvement in the drug trade and take action against them. See also the message about Amlo News from Thailand From yesterday.

– The military authority has assured Western trade representatives that it will restore investor confidence and create an environment conducive to trade. Coupleider Prayuth Chan-ocha gave that assurance yesterday during a meeting with representatives of the foreign Chambers of Commerce.

We recognize that Thailand cannot exist in isolation. We still need to improve our international relations based on mutual trust and equal interests. We ask you to have faith in Thailand.'

– The Japanese ambassador spoke yesterday with the permanent secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He confirmed that Japan continues to cooperate with Thailand thanks to the long-standing ties between the two countries and mutual interests.

It was the first time the two had spoken after the May 22 coup. Japan is Thailand's largest foreign investor. Tourists from that country are the third largest group of visitors from abroad.

– Today is World Refugee Day and to mark the occasion, a seminar was held yesterday dedicated to the refugee situation in the world. There are 15,4 million refugees worldwide, according to figures from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, of which 82.000 are registered in Thailand. Since June last year, Thailand has provided shelter to 13.000 asylum seekers, mostly Rohingya refugees who have fled ethnic unrest in Rakhine, Myanmar.

Niran Pitakwatchara of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) says refugees suffer abuse from local authorities because of outdated attitudes of police and refugee laws, which view border issues as security issues rather than human rights issues. If authorities continue to see refugees as a threat to security, human rights violations will continue, Niran said.

The NHRC is proposing to the government to amend the Immigration Act of 1979 to allow refugees to stay for one year and avoid arrest until their asylum application is decided.

Thailand is not a signatory to the 1951 UN Refugee Convention, which Niran says has led to refugees being treated as illegal migrants and arrested.

Addition to the posting Exodus to Cambodia decreases

– The Ministry of Justice and the Department of Special Investigation (DSI, the Thai FBI) ​​expect Thailand to be removed from the Tier 2 list of the annual Trafficking in Persons US Labor Department report. They are hopeful because progress is being made in the fight against human trafficking.

Charnchao Chaiyanukil, Acting Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Justice, pointed out the junta's policy on women, children and foreign labour. Severe penalties have been promised against those involved in human trafficking. And the NCPO will also better regulate the sector to prevent foreign workers from being exploited. Last year, 627 new human trafficking cases were brought; 225 people involved have been brought to justice. Many received sentences of more than two years.

Today the long awaited report is released.

Economic news

– Rice farmers just have to get used to it. The measures taken to help them consist of indirect aid. No more cash payments, as in the mortgage system for rice (Government Yingluck) or in the price guarantee system (Government Abhisit), but reduction of production costs. NCPO and representatives of rice millers, farmers, exporters and government services agreed on this on Wednesday.

Vendors of fertilizers, insecticides, rice seeds, harvesters and landowners who lease land are going to lower their prices, and the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives is offering special low-interest loans. They have also promised to take additional measures with the aim of increasing paddy prices. The measures will come into force in the 2014-2015 rice season. Production costs are expected to decrease by 432 baht per rai and, when the bearing interest loan is included, by 582 baht per rai.

Wichien Phuanglamjiak, president of the Thai Agriculturist Association, calls the junta's intention to stabilize the paddy price at 8.500 to 9.000 baht per ton acceptable. But he does urge to distinguish between farmers in irrigated and non-irrigated areas. The latter usually have higher production costs: an average of 6.500 to 7.000 baht per rai.

Rawee Rungruang, leader of a farmers' network, also finds the measures acceptable given the tight budget available. He asks the junta to give farmers the same discount on diesel as is done in the fishing industry.

- The policy rate, the rate on which banks base their interest rates, remains unchanged at 2 percent. This was decided by the Central Bank's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) on Wednesday. The MPC expects the economy to pick up in the second half of the year, after contracting by 0,5 percent in the first two quarters.

The forecast is based on the expectation that fiscal policy will function normally, economic management mechanisms will normalize and private sector confidence will return. Growth in the second half of the year will therefore amount to 3,4 to 3,5 percent.

For the full year, the central bank expects 1,5 percent, almost half of the March forecast of 2,7 percent. The Fiscal Policy Office is more optimistic. It estimates growth this year at 2,6 to 3 percent.

– Tour operators urge the junta not to grant visa exemptions to Chinese tourists. While this could increase the number of visitors from China, they would also skip the immigration process. [?] The tour operators find the reduction of the visa fee acceptable.

Stimulating tourism from China was a wish of the previous Yingluck government. She hoped to reach the target of 2014 trillion baht in tourism income in 2 and 2015 trillion baht in 2,2.

However, a study by the Tourism Authority of Thailand found that Chinese tourists are mainly from lower income groups. The growth in the number of Chinese tourists also has a negative effect on other markets: England, France and Germany. In addition, Thailand's main competitors such as South Korea, Japan and the Asean countries do not offer free visas. Furthermore, the capacity of many Thai airports, especially in tourist destinations, is not sufficient to handle flights from China, which prefer to land at night.

The TAT study considers the possibility of free visas in the future if the middle and higher income groups come to Thailand on holiday. According to the TAT, China is an important market for Thai tourism. If Thailand wants to revive tourism, it has to start with big tourist markets like China.

– Investments for the infrastructure plans of 2,4 trillion baht are expected to reach 100 billion baht in the first year. The NCPO's transport strategy committee made that calculation. The work will be spread over seven years, from 2015 to 2022.

Most rail projects are financed from the current budget and loans, most road projects from the budget and through public-private partnership.

The current plans are based on the plans of the Yingluck government, which wanted to borrow 2 trillion baht for it. The construction of four high-speed lines worth 780 billion baht has been scrapped and projects in the fields of aviation, highways connecting Bangkok to neighboring cities and dredging work, worth a total of 1 trillion baht, have been added.

The projects that can be considered first are four-lane roads, double track and three metro lines: the Orange Line (Thailand Cultural Center-Min Buri), Pink Line (Kaerai-Min Buri) and Yellow Line (Lat Phrao-Samut Prakan) .

Nipon Poapongsakorn, an economist at the Thailand Development Research Institute, wonders whether the Railways [which don't have a very good reputation] are able to carry out these projects efficiently. It would be better to privatize the railway network. According to him, all projects should be preceded by feasibility studies and hearings, and expropriation procedures should be fair.

www.dickvanderlugt.nl – Source: Bangkok Post

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