Bus firm asks court to sue minister

A contractor involved in the long-running dispute over natural gas vehicle (NGV)-fuelled city buses has asked the Central Administrative Court to penalise Transport Minister Arkhom Termpittayapaisith for allegedly defying its injunction against the unlawful auction of 489 of the buses.

Daran Phurisathit who represents Siam Standard Energy Co, one of the bidders in the NGV procurement project, said Mr Arkhom breached the court order on April 10 which asks the Bangkok Mass Transit Authority (BMTA) to put on hold its ongoing bus deal with supplier, a SCN-CHO joint venture, until the alleged irregularities are cleared.

In comments to the media on April 12, the minister told the BMTA to follow the contract and receive all the buses as planned, which has upset the company.

The joint venture, comprising Cho Thavee Plc and Scan Inter Plc, has already delivered 100 vehicles, also known as “blue buses”, to the agency which has started a test run on March 27. The minister is keen to get them on the roads to serve city folk.

This shows that Mr Arkhom is behaving in a way that defies the injunction, according to the petition filed by Mr Daran.

Mr Arkhom yesterday said the first 100 NGV buses were accepted and paid for before the court’s injunction while the next batch’s delivery would be postponed.

In his complaint, Mr Daran also asked the court to summon and impose legal actions on acting BMTA director Prayoon Choygeo and Somkuan Nasanom, chief of procurement committee inspecting the buses delivered by the joint venture.

Mr Daran’s company competed in the auction but lost to Cho Thavee Plc and its ally.

Siam Standard Energy claimed the bidding was not transparent and filed an accusation against the BMTA.

The firm said the city bus agency’s meeting, which resolved to strike a 4.22-billion-baht deal with the joint venture, was illegitimate.

The auction was held on Oct 4 last year after the BMTA scrapped its bus purchase with Bestlin Group, which was, in 2016, awarded the then 3.3-billion-baht contract to supply the 489 NGV-powered buses to the agency. The BMTA blacklisted Bestlin Group and terminated its contract, following doubts on its false claim over which country produced the buses.

The agency accused Bestlin Group of failing to deliver the buses on time after Customs Department seized most of its imported buses. In June of last year, Bestlin Group filed a suit, the ruling from which was read on April 12.