Bangkok urban rail plan is off the rails

BANGKOK: The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) has come up with another innovative scheme to improve commuter transport.

BMA Governor Samak Sundaravej has proposed that the Chinese government get involved in an 80-kilometer train service that will bring commuters in the suburban areas to the city center.

Should Bangkok residents hail this initiative? One of the problems which has plagued Bangkok's infrastructure management is that new projects are thought of, and executed, on top of one another. A new commuter-train project may be a burden rather than a solution to the city's notorious traffic.

So far no government, including the present one led by Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, has wanted to get to the heart of the matter, which is to realign the scattered and inefficient city transport under one umbrella and make it work.

The Management of Road Traffic Commission (MRTC), which is supposed to be in charge of the development of transport services, has remained a paper tiger. It has not been given the mandate to prioritize projects that would be efficient and cost- effective for the city taxpayers and commuters.

Bangkok Transit Co, the operator of the city's first elevated- train service, is the responsibility of the BMA. The subway project comes under the Metropolitan Rapid Transit Authority, a PM's Office responsibility.

The Bangkok expressway is under the control of the Express Transit Authority, which comes under the Interior Ministry. The aborted Hopewell project is in the hands of the State Railways of Thailand, which is supervised by the Transport and Communications Ministry.

To anyone living in Bangkok, such a variety of agencies is a source of problems which have beset the city's transport planning. Bangkok residents have grown tired of empty promises of politicians to bring these responsibilities under one roof.

And if the new government wants to do the city residents a big favor, it should hold a workshop on city transport services and make the necessary decisions and legal changes to bring them under one umbrella.

Without it, a project such as Samak has proposed is pointless. Even if it has merit, it would only add to the city's investment burden, and the government's, and not efficiently align with the other existing projects.

It is also pertinent to note that such projects have a high import content, which does not bode well considering the BTS and the subway project already have an uncertain financial outlook.

If the BMA decides to issue bonds to finance its suggested project, a financial feasibility is critical to ensure that the city authority does not fall into a debt trap and sink along with its mega-spending.

The city infrastructure development ought to become one of the prime minister's workshop topics. He is not unfamiliar with the matter, having once been a deputy prime minister in charge of the MRTC.

Back in 1997 he made his famous pledge to improve the city's traffic within six months. He failed in that task but along the way picked up valuable experience that could be used to improve the situation.

One of the ruling Thai Rak Thai Party's clearest policies is not to spend too much of the country's budget in urban areas to allow the rural sector a fairer share of development money.

This means that Bangkok should be better run and infrastructure development made more efficient and cost- effective. It is not an exaggeration to say that a healthy capital city also means a windfall for the other parts of the country. This is particular true for a one-city nation such as Thailand or Japan.

So new projects for Bangkok, whether they come from the BMA or the government, should be put on the back burner until the existing ones are coordinated under one roof and one unified command. This is to ensure that there is a priority on development and spending and the routes are linked for the benefit of the commuter in a viable and cost-effective way.

-- The Nation/Asia News Network