The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) will seek a meeting with the new government to discuss cooperation on issues of public interest, problems in the city as well as projects proposed by the city’s administration.
Bangkok Governor Chadchart Sittipunt said today (Sunday) that the BMA has prepared a list of issues for the discussion, including the traffic problem, the unresolved train fare issue on the BTS skytrain system and the huge debt owed by the city’s administration to BTS and the Mass Rapid Transit System (MRT).
The governor also said that the BMA wants to see government support for its project to make Bangkok a hub in which transnational companies invest in the service sector, such as new innovations and start-up businesses, because Bangkok has all the required infrastructure, such as train and communications systems and good accommodation at reasonable prices, international schools and top-rate hospitals among others.
He said that city officials have been in consultations with members of foreign chambers of commerce regarding this project, adding that it will not be possible without support from the government.
The BMA’s massive debts to BTS and MRT, estimated at about 100 billion baht, and the BTS train fares for the two extension routes, from Mor Chit to Khu Khot and from Bearing to Keha, have been dragging on for years, with the Prayut administration reluctant to step in to solve the problem. The result is that travelling on the two extension routes is currently free of charge.
