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   BUSINESS NEWS

HEADLINES [click on headline to view story]:
TOT set to open new bid on scandalous SDH project

Seats booked for rare river event

Consulting market expands as competition heats up

Property auctioneer gearing up for more projects

Explosions, bomb threats, send Makro sales plummeting

Internet connecting rates halved to compete

Kingdom used as gateway to Indochina

Dutch group takes control of wire producer

Zenith to use Kingdom as SEA headquarters

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Copyright 1999 Pattaya Mail Publishing Co.Ltd.
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Updated by Boosiri Suansuk