By Linda Khoo
BANGKOK, Nov 27 (NNN-Bernama) — Malaysia’s Bina Puri Holdings Bhd (Bina Puri), through its joint-venture SPTK Joint Venture Co Ltd (SPTK JV), on Thursday, signed a contract package with State Railway of Thailand (SRT) on the high-speed railway (HSR) project to connect Bangkok to Nakhon Ratchasima.
Bina Puri’s wholly-owned subsidiary Bina Puri Sdn Bhd (BPSB), together with NPA Construction Co Ltd and Tim Sekata Sdn Bhd, won a bid for a package worth 7.75 billion baht (US$225.56 million) for the Khok Kruat–Nakhon Ratchasima section under phase one of Bangkok-Nakhon Ratchasima section.
The contract was signed by SPTK JV chief executive officer Attasith Damrongrat and Bina Puri Holdings (Thailand) Ltd executive director Leong Keh Soon on behalf of SPTK JV while SRT was represented by its governor, Nirut Maneephan.
Permanent Secretary of Transport Ministry, Chayatham Phromsorn, witnessed the signing ceremony held at the ministry in Bangkok.
Also present at the signing ceremony were NPA Construction Co Ltd managing director Dittapol Damrongrat, MATRADE’s trade commissioner, Norman Dzulkarnain Nasri and Malaysian-Thai Chamber of Commerce (MTCC) chairwoman Dr Hwee Khim Boo.
The construction civil works for phase one of the Bangkok-Nakhon Ratchasima section involve 14 contracts. Today’s signing ceremony involved five civil works contracts.
Leong said the package included a 12.38 km railway route and building of two stations — Nakhon Ratchasima Station and Phu Kao Lat Station.
He said the scope of work included earthworks, retaining wall, roadwork, railway structures, building services, piping and drainage work, and utilities.
Meanwhile, Attasith said SPTK JV was confident of completing the project on time.
“We have enough manpower and sub-contractors to complete the project. We also have engineers to monitor the project every month,” he told Bernama after the signing ceremony here Thursday.
The Bangkok–Nong Khai HSR project has two phases. The construction of Bangkok-Nakhon Ratchasima section (Phase 1) will involve a 250.77km rail line with an estimated construction cost of 179.41 billion baht while Phase 2 involves the construction of the 356.10km rail line of the Nakhon Ratchasima–Nong Khai section.
Bina Puri first ventured into Thailand in 2003 when it was awarded the contract to construct the access road for the Suvarnabhumi International Airport in Bangkok valued at more than US$44.22 million (RM180 million).
— NNN-BERNAMA
