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Government approves electricity purchase from Laos
Plans to purchase electricity from Laos’s Nam Nguen 2
Project edged closer to fruition recently when the National Energy Policy
Commission gave the green light to a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on
the proposed deal.
Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-Ngam told reporters
after a meeting of the commission that the meeting had approved the draft
MOU on the project, which is expected to be signed in the third quarter of
the year, with the first electricity from the deal flowing into the Thai
system by July 2010.
The Nam Nguen 2 Project will produce around 2,310 million
units of electricity a year for Thailand, at a cost of 1.99 baht per unit
for the duration of the 25-year contract.
The project, which will be funded by a consortium calling
itself South East Asia Energy Co. Ltd, will entail 107 kilometers of
electricity cables in Laos being connected with a further 93 kilometers of
cables on the Thai side of the border.
One quarter of the investment in the project will come
from the Laotian government. The scheme is being touted as beneficial to
both countries, with Thailand gaining the ability to meet its energy needs,
while Laos will gain much-needed revenue. (TNA)
Gasohol sales double
Gasohol sales have doubled since mid-February, with
around 8 million liters of the alternative fuel now being sold to motorists
each month, according to new figures released by Thailand’s petrol giant,
PTT Public Company Limited (PTT).
The figures were announced as PTT signed a deal with Thai
Agro Energy on the purchase of 750,000-1,000,000 liters each month of 99.5
percent ethanol for the production of gasohol 95. The amount of ethanol
purchased under the deal will increase in line with demand.
Gasohol, produced by combining one part of regular
gasoline (91 octane benzene) with nine parts of ethanol, is being heavily
touted by the government as an alternative to traditional fuel which will
help reduce the country’s reliance on expensive oil imports.
Since PTT cut the price of gasohol to 1.50 baht per liter
below gasoline on February 15, sales have doubled at the 330 gas stations
selling it. By the end of the year, PTT hopes to increase the number of gas
stations offering gasohol to 400. (TNA)
More massages for motorists
A petrol station might not seem much of a place of rest
for tired motorists, but under a plan recently announced by the Department
for the Development of Thai and Alternative Medicine (DTAM), stressed
drivers up and down the country could soon be queuing up for gas
station-based massage services.
The announcement was made as the DTAM, which is working
in conjunction with petrol giant Bangchak, opened its 17th motorist massage
service at a petrol station in Thailand’s central province of Singburi on
April 8.
Expressing concern that tired motorists were relying on
energy drinks to get them through long drives, the DTAM Director-General,
Vichai Chokevivat, said that the best way to beat stress while driving was
to stop and relax.
Massage, which Dr. Vichai noted would help boost
concentration, is seen by the government as one weapon in its armory for
helping reduce road accidents.
The DTAM now plans to introduce massage services at eight
more petrol stations, boosting the total number of stations offering the
services to 25. (TNA)
Pharmaceutical companies told
to meet global standards
Thai pharmaceutical companies have been told by the Food
and Drug Administration (FDA) to develop their products in order to meet
international quality standards in a bid to boost the nation’s
competitiveness in the international pharmaceuticals market.
FDA secretary-general Prof. Dr. Pakdee Pothisiri, who
recently opened a conference on good manufacturing practices (GMP) in
pharmaceutical production, said that Thailand could only gain an edge in a
highly competitive global market if it introduces modern technology and
meets GMP standards.
Several importing nations have established organizations
which ensure that pharmaceutical imports are strictly quality controlled, a
practice which many exporting countries perceive as a trade barrier.
Expressing a desire for Thailand to become a member of
the international Pharmaceutical Inspection Cooperation Scheme (PIC/S),
Prof. Pakdee said that it was vital for Thai pharmaceutical countries to
wake up to the need to develop their manufacturing standards, both for the
benefit of the export sector and for domestic consumers. (TNA)
One-stop emergency health service
The Ministry of Public Health recently revealed plans to
launch emergency one-stop health services in provincial hospitals across the
country, which will serve to give medical advice and advice to victims of
violence.
Dr. Vichai Tienthavorn, the Permanent Secretary for
Public Health, told a meeting of doctors, nurses and paramedics that the
extension of emergency medical coverage across the entire country was
considered by the Ministry of Public Health to be one of its seven urgent
policies.
Noting that injuries are the second highest cause of
death in Thailand after cancer, he said that the new emergency service was
designed to reduce death, disability and suffering.
Figures from 2000-2003 show that traffic accidents alone
caused 20 deaths per 100,000 population, while 8 people per 100,000 were
victims of violent attacks.
Under the new policies, 92 provincial and central
hospitals nationwide will establish centers which will provide service
relating to all types of injury, offering a one-stop service which will
include ambulance provision.
Staff at the centers will also offer telephone advice on
how to treat injured people at home, while waiting for an ambulance to
arrive.
Anyone wishing to use the centers can simply phone 1669,
which will put them through to the Ministry of Public Health. Operators of
the 24-hour telephone hotline will determine what help the callers require,
and will be able to offer emergency medical advice. (TNA)
Government to amend laws governing state enterprises
The government plans to amend laws and regulations
governing Thai state enterprises, aimed at enhancing their efficiency and
competitiveness, according to the Permanent Secretary for Finance, Suparut
Kawatkul.
The amendment of the laws and regulations will also help
the local state enterprises to cope with global changes and national
development through government mega projects, he said.
“Local state enterprises are responsible for up to 85
percent of the government’s mega-projects, worth 1.5 trillion baht. So,
the government, through the Ministry of Finance, needs to amend state
enterprises-related laws to enhance their efficiency and business
competitiveness”, he told a seminar on the elimination of legal barriers
and efficiency enhancement of Thai state enterprises.
The government’s planned mega projects over the next
four years include the expansion of Bangkok’s mass transport systems and
the development of integrated irrigation system throughout the country.
“The amendment of the laws and regulations governing
local state enterprises will also be in line with the government’s legal
development plan,” said Mr. Suparut.
The government also plans to set up ‘National State
Enterprises Corporation’ to regulate and oversee all local state
enterprises, according to the permanent secretary for finance.
“Once the ‘National State Enterprises Corporation’
is established, the Ministry of Finance’s task of supervising the
country’s state enterprises will be transferred to the new corporation”,
he disclosed.
Meanwhile, Puntip Surathin, the director-general of the
State Enterprise Policy Office, told the seminar that in case of privatized
state enterprises which are listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand, the
government will, however, give the companies’ boards full mandates in
their administration and business management plans. (TNA)
15 baht million for southern
student unity camp
The government and the Royal Thai Army are pouring 15
million baht into a student unity camp aimed to deflect tension in the
country’s southern border region, which will be attended by 1,750 Buddhist
and Muslim students from Pattani, Yala, Narathiwat and Songkhla.
The move comes as part of the government’s policies to
boost educational opportunities in the troubled South, where much of the
insurgency has been blamed on educational inequalities.
Catering for government and private sector high school
students, the camp will see an equal representation of students worshipping
Buddhism and Islam.
“The main aim is for students to be together and to
learn from various activities”, said Mr. Sunant Thepsri, director of the
Ministry of Education’s southern border region coordination center.
“One of the most important things will be for young
people from different areas and different regions to be together and
exchange their cultures and ways of thought and to generate
understanding”.
The 20-day camp began on April 9 at a school in Pattani
Province, and will focus on computer studies, science and technology, and
languages and communication.
Other activities will include vocational training which
will cater for the needs of the local market, as well as study skill
training, with students learning about how to respect other cultures and
religions. (TNA)
Q1 sees continuing growth in investment
Requests for Board of Investment (BOI) concessions
continued to rise over the first quarter of the year, with 331 projects with
an investment total of over 174 billion baht asking for BOI support, BOI
Secretary-general Sathit Sirirankhamanon revealed.
The figures are particularly promising given the security
situation in the southern border region, which some analysts have warned
could put off investors.
Expressing confidence that requests for investment
concessions would grow by 25 percent in line with government targets, Sathit
said that the 174 billion baht figure for the first quarter of the year was
up 101.2 percent on the figure for the first trimester of 2004.
The high Q1 figures are largely attributable to the
automobile industry, responsible for 89.6 billion baht total investment sum,
with both Toyota and Nissan among the 84 companies making requests to expand
production.
A further 55 requests were for service sector and
infrastructure projects worth 50.9 billion baht.
Sathit said that in order to encourage greater
investment, the BOI was shifting its focus towards value chain investment,
rather than investment in single stages of the production process.
He also revealed that a couple of US companies had
expressed an interest in investing in the new aircraft maintenance center
which will meet the needs of Bangkok’s new Suvarnabhumi Airport.
The BOI’s focus in Japan, meanwhile, would continue to
be on electronics and automobile companies. He noted that while many
Japanese electronics companies had shifted their production bases to China,
this was mainly for domestic Chinese production, while Thailand was
continuing to act as a production base for export.
“Our manufacturing capabilities and the fact that we
have adjusted our logistics system make me confident that Thailand will be
of interest to investors”, Sathit said, while noting that Thailand’s
establishment of free trade areas (FTA’s) with a number of other countries
also made it an attractive investment prospect. (TNA)
Ministry launches cheap petrol scheme for fishermen
The Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives has launched
a petrol scheme which will enable fishermen to fill up with cheap fuel at 44
locations nationwide, a move prompted by thousands of fishing vessels being
forced to cease operating due to soaring fuel costs.
Deputy Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister Newin
Chidchob said that the ‘purple petrol’ stations in 16 provinces would
offer fuel at 2 per liter baht less than regular petrol stations, and that
the government was prepared to open more ‘purple’ stations if requested
to do so by fishing communities.
The government will also review the situation on a
three-monthly basis to review the extent to which the lower prices are
aiding fishing operators.
Mr. Newin said that soon a clearer picture would emerge
on how the government might help in providing ‘green’ or offshore
petrol.
The Ministry of Energy is currently procuring ‘green’
petrol from Singapore, and hopes to sell it at a lower price than current
offshore petrol prices.
As the deputy minister opened a ‘purple’ station in
Samut Prakan on the outskirts of Bangkok on Aparil 8, he was mobbed by
fishermen and women calling on the government to guarantee the price of
fisheries products.
A local fisherwoman, Mrs. Amphai Ploijirachai, said that
even with the lower fuel costs, fishermen and women would still face
financial losses.
Accusing the government of image-mongering, she said that
the only way to provide genuine assistance was to guarantee the price of
fisheries products and to halt the import of ground fish from abroad.
Mega projects won’t affect fiscal stability, says Finance Ministry
The Finance Ministry recently stated that strict
government supervision would ensure that proposed large-scale state
investment in a series of mega-projects would not affect monetary and fiscal
stability. Permanent Secretary for Finance Suparat Kawatkul said the
ministry is coordinating with the state agencies concerned over the details
of each project and the priority each investment will be given.
He said the ministry would adopt an extremely cautious
approach to managing the four-year mega-projects investment plan, and there
was no danger of monetary or fiscal instability.
Although the project investment would require around 10
percent of the annual spending budget, the government could set aside around
15 percent of that figure for other investments to boost economic growth.
Suparat said capital for the mega-projects would come
from three main areas: the budget, retained earnings of state enterprises,
and loans or funds from any joint venture. He also argued that while the
government’s investment burden over the next four years would amount to
more than 1.5 trillion baht, the mega-projects spending would not affect the
annual budget. On the contrary, the investment would help boost continued
economic growth.
“We are in a process of proposing to parliament a Bill
to set up a National State Enterprise Corporation or Super Holding. The
Super Holding can invest retained earnings in projects that the private
sector is unable to. Unlike state enterprises, the new corporation need not
return earnings to the Finance Ministry,” Suparat said. (TNA)
Vayupak Fund poised to invest in TPI
The state-owned Vayupak Fund has set aside 4 billion baht
for the purchase of new capital-increase shares offered by Thai
Petrochemical Industry Plc pending the due diligence completion.
Pichit Akkarathit, President of MFC Asset Management Co,
acting as the Vayupak Fund manager, disclosed the fund has so far invested
20 billion baht in the Stock Exchange of Thailand. It has also earmarked 4
billion baht to purchase new capital-increase shares offered by TPI, but
needs to allow PTT Plc and the Government Pension Fund to carry out the due
diligence of the debt-ridden company first.
Pichit said the share price of TPI calculated by PTT and
GPF following the due diligence should be reliable and set as a benchmark.
“As far as I know, PTT manages to get the fair price of new
capital-increase share offered by TPI,” he said.
Although the fund is aware of the fair price, it will
have to wait for a revision of investment rules by the Finance Ministry.
Under the current investment rules, the fund is required to invest in shares
traded on the SET 50 index and those held in the Finance Ministry only.
(TNA)
BOT likely to raise repo to narrow spread
The Bank of Thailand is very likely to increase the
policy interest rate by 25 basis points to narrow the interest spread
locally and overseas, according to a top banker.
Arun Jirachavala, President of Siam City Bank Plc, said
he believed local interest rates will move in the same direction with
foreign interest rates.
Should the United States’ Federal Reserve (Fed) decide
to further raise key interest rates, the BOT would increase repurchase rates
accordingly to keep a narrow range of the interest spread. Currently, the
Fed fund rate stands at 2.75% per annum while the 14-day repo is set at
2.25%.
Arun said it was not unusual if the Monetary Policy
Committee would decide at its meeting on April 20 to raise the 14-day repo
by 25 basis points since Fed had already increased the key interest rate
before.
The repo hike would reduce the interest spread to 0.25%
from 0.50% at present. Arun conceded deposit and lending rates offered by
commercial banks would increase if the BOT decided to raise the repo
continuously for this year. However, it needed to take some time to see the
local interest rate hike because the liquidity in the system remained
excessive. He projected major banks would lead the interest hike with
deposit rates going up prior to lending rates.
On the baht direction, he said, the local currency had
currently weakened because the US dollar had strengthened continuously
against other major currencies.
For instance, Japanese yen has depreciated by 4-5% to 108
from 103-104 to the US dollar as euro has weakened by the same percentage to
1.35 to the US dollar.
However, the baht has depreciated by around 3%, which is
less than that of other currencies. (TNA)
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