ACT to check transparency of Thai government's new mega-projects

BANGKOK, February 7 (TNA) - The Thai government has invited the Anti-Corruption Organization of Thailand (ACT) to examine the transparency of its new mega-infrastructure development projects, worth 2.2-trillion-baht. Transport Minister Chadchat Sittipunt discussed the issue with representatives of the ACT at a luncheon on Thursday, assigning the ACT to check the transparency from the first stage of all the 57 new mega projects, which will be funded by a total loan of 2.2 trillion baht. According to the transport minister, his ministry is in charge of most of the Thai government's new mega-investment projects worth 1.9 trillion baht, including one-trillion-baht high-speed train systems linking Bangkok with Chiang Mai in the Thai North, Padang Besar in the far South, Rayong in the East and Nong Khai in the Northeast, as well as double railway tracks, 10 extended electric train systems in Bangkok and nearby provinces and water management plans. The transport minister said that he has already reported the new mega-projects under his ministry's supervision to Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and will soon seek the Cabinet's endorsement of the projects so that they will be then implemented. (TNA)