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TOT set to open new
bid on scandalous SDH project
The Telephone Organization of Thailand is set to open
another round of bidding for the construction of the synchronous digital
hierarchy system - the high speed communications backbone for the
country’s advanced technology telephone network. A previous bid for the
project was called off in 1998 after political uproar.
The TOT board gave its nod to the project in a meeting
on Monday last week, and the project’s cost was reduced from Baht 10.4
billion to Baht 8 billion. Mechai Veeravidhaya, chairman of the TOT board,
said the bidding will be fair and totally transparent. The invitation to
the bid went out to industries on Wednesday, November 3, he said.
The board chairman said the project was freely and
independently worked out by TOT, without political intervention. The
bidding process is expected to last until April 2000, and the construction
to be finished within two years.
Local communication groups will enjoy an equal chance to compete with
foreign firms for the project.
Seats booked for rare
river event
The royal barge procession has been such a great event,
all 6,000 seats arranged at locations along the Chaophrya by the Tourism
Authority of Thailand have been booked, while several hundred more seats
at private firms and riverside restaurants are almost sold out.
Tickets, with prices ranging from Baht 200 to Baht
1,200 a seat, were sold through travel agencies and have attracted
European and American tourists who realized that the procession is
organized only on special occasions. Some foreign VIPs are also flying
into the Kingdom by private planes specifically to see the event.
The royal barge procession this year is being performed
to celebrate HM the King’s 72nd birthday this December 5.
Chaophrya Express Boat, which operates several piers
located at prime locations to view the procession, said very few seats are
left.
Meanwhile, Thammasart University, which is selling seats for Baht
1,000, will provide tourists with booklets, documents, and a full
narration during the event from Thai Study Institute officials.
Consulting market
expands as competition heats up
Consulting companies said they are winning more
customers in the Thai market as competition in industries has intensified
over the past few years. More consulting firms are expected to open in
Thailand as investors from overseas are entering into the local market,
said Apichat Pumsuk, business development manager of Japanese-Thai Joint
Venture Co.
According to Apochat, JTJV has won more than 30 clients
after just one month of service. Clients come from various industries,
from hotel and restaurant, food cannery, home furnishing, to electronics,
he said. The number of clients is expected to rise to about 1,000 over the
next 5-6 years, especially when the Thai economy fully recovers from the
crisis, Apichat said.
The auto industry is among areas of high competition,
and investors there gain from consultations. Consultants help investors in
marketing and consumption trend research in the market.
Notes: The US-based Automotive Research Asia plans to expand consulting
services from Thailand to the Philippines.
Property
auctioneer gearing up for more projects
Harrison (Thailand) is expecting more land and house
projects to be up for auction next year, citing the success of previous
auctions. At least three creditor banks and more than ten property
developers have put housing units and land plots under custody to go up
for sale, said Alan Lim, managing director.
Harrison, in collaboration with US-based Mel Guiller
and Associates, earlier this year sold more than 73 apartment units for
Grand Lang Suan, the Commonwealth, Royal River, and Silom Park View
apartments and condominiums. The auctions netted a total of Baht 300
million, which represented 60% to 69% of their market prices, Lim said.
The next auction on November 28 will be for the Panjasap Group, when
more than 40 single houses and land plots will be put up for sale.
Panjasap, which is a local property giant, said the auction should reflect
the real price of properties in the market.
Explosions, bomb
threats, send Makro sales plummeting
Sales have fallen by 20% at Makro nationwide after a
series of explosions in three branches of the largest wholesale store
chain in Thailand, and bomb threats at others. The latest explosion in
Makro Chiang Mai on October 9 killed one security guard.
Makro is likely to see a worse fall in sales later this
year if it fails to convince customers of security and safety, said
retailing sources.
Sales at some Makro branches have fallen even more than
20%, said the source. The branches, which usually made Baht 7 million to
Baht 8 million a day on weekends and on public holidays, recently made
only Baht 3 million to Baht 5 million on those good days.
According to one source, Siam Makro Plc had doubled the
number of security officers, and phone calls to and from the store have
been recorded around the clock.
The Nakorn Ratchasima branch recently received bomb
threats, and official intelligence agents have warned Siam Makro of more
threats at the Chiang Mai branch.
Investigators are looking into conflicts between former Thai and
foreign executives as motives which led to last month’s bombing.
Internet
connecting rates halved to compete
Local Internet service providers are getting set for a
new price showdown to compete with new services from both the Telephone
Organization of Thailand and the Communications Authority of Thailand,
which are scheduled to start on December 5. The TOT service will collect
Baht 3 baht on connecting, and Baht 0.50 a minute of use-time. CAT and TOT
services will cover all the provinces.
Internet KSC, the largest ISP in Thailand, said that
from now on all its members will be charged only 50% of normal rates. Prof
Dr Srisak Jamornmarn, KSC chairman, said the new rates fit into the
company’s strategy to attract more users in the market, which
anticipates the number of Internet users to float to around 1.5 million in
2000.
Internet KSC will also install 10,000 more telephone
lines for much faster and smoother connections. KSC will also launch an
educational Web site and other complementary services
CS Internet of Shin Corp currently offers the special ‘Ready Kit’,
which charges only Baht 12 per hour during particular hours from midnight
to 09:00 a.m.
Kingdom used as
gateway to Indochina
Foreign investors are now viewing Thailand as the most
convenient place to make business connections with the Indochinese states
of Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam and Burma, and more businesses, especially from
Singapore, have moved into the Kingdom.
Singapore recently set up an office of the Trade
Development Board in Thailand to monitor trade and export activities with
Thailand’s immediate neighbors.
“It has become clear in seminars and discussions held
in Singapore over the past several months that investors, both
Singaporeans and foreigners already established in the island state, are
set to expand into Thailand,” said Sompong Vanapa, investment counselor
from the office of the Board of Investment.
Singapore ranks as the sixth largest foreign investor in the Kingdom
over the past nine months, with 62 projects worth Baht 1.2 billion being
implemented. European companies have become the largest investors in terms
of capital volume, with 101 projects worth Baht 6 billion.
Dutch group takes
control of wire producer
The Monterey Group is to withdraw its property arm,
Monterey Asia Plc, from the Stock Exchange of Thailand, and the company
will be closed under a consolidation plan. The group has meanwhile sold
65% of shares it holds in SMC-Draga Co, which produces electrical wires
and cables, to Dutch partner, Drago Group.
The Monterey Group earlier held 90% in SMC Draga, which
now has Baht 1 billion in outstanding debts. The group said the copper
wire production plant has been operating to only 30% to 40% of its
capacity during the economic crisis. Full production could generate an
income of about Baht 4 billion a year, said Chayan Techasukij, president.
The group will quit the property development industry
permanently, and switch its focus to producing high technology products.
The group owes billions of baht to the Financial Institution
Restructuring Authority, and Monterey Tower on Petchburi Road has been
changed to be Bangkok Tower.
Zenith to use
Kingdom as SEA headquarters
The Hong Kong-based hotel managing group, Zenith Hotels
International, recently took control over the administration of the
Hampton Inn on Sukhumvit 3 after the US-based Hampton Group postponed its
investment plan in Asia-Pacific to spread over the next 5 years, citing
the economic crisis as the cause. The name of the hotel was changed to
Zenith Sukhumvit on November 1.
Zenith currently has 10 hotels in the chain, all in
China. The group plans to use the Kingdom as its base to expand to
Malaysia, Laos, and Indonesia from now to 2002, said Earns Simmerman,
executive chairman. Because of its prime location and the convenient
transportation provided by BTS trains, the Zenith Sukhumvit has been
changed into a hotel for business people.
The hotel has enjoyed an occupancy rate of about 75%
this year, with about 50% of its guests being independent, walk-in
tourists. Sales are expected to increase by 40% after the change in
services.
Ten more hotels are expected to join the chain over the next 2 years.
Copyright 1999 Pattaya Mail Publishing Co.Ltd.
370/7-8 Pattaya Second Road, Pattaya City, Chonburi 20260, Thailand
Tel.66-38 411 240-1, 413 240-1, Fax:66-38 427 596; e-mail: [email protected]
Updated by Boosiri Suansuk |
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