Thailand's relevant agencies to proceed with Hopewell case

BANGKOK, April 24 (TNA) - Thai Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-ocha says that agencies in charge of the Hopewell Project, a disputed mass transit plan in Bangkok, will proceed with the scandal case following the latest court's verdict earlier this week. The Thai leader told journalists in the city on Wednesday that both the Ministry of Transport and the State Railway of Thailand (SRT) are responsible to accelerate proceeding with the Hopewell case. "After the court verdict in its written form with all details is sent to the Thai government, both the Ministry of Transport and SRT will be tasked with jointly taking the most appropriate action for the case", the prime minister said. The prime minister's remarks were in response to the Thai Supreme Administrative Court's ruling on April 22 that the Thai government pays a compensation of about 11.89 billion baht for the cancellation of the Hopewell Project in 1998, as decided by the Arbitration Tribunal in late 2008, plus a 7.5 per cent interest of the amount, as well as returns a cash guarantee of 500 million baht of the project to Hopewell (Thailand) Company. Last Monday's verdict of the Thai Supreme Administrative Court overturned the Central Administrative Court's ruling in 2014 that the the Arbitration Tribunal had no authority to decide on the case because Hopewell (Thailand) Company filed its complaint after the five-year legal mandate of the arbitration panel. In 1990, the then Thai government granted a concession to Hopewell (Thailand) Company, an affiliate of Hong Kong-based Hopewell Holdings Limited, to develop the comprehensive Hopewell mass rail transit system in Greater Bangkok, totally worth about 80 billion baht, but the implementation of the project faced legal hurdles, leading to the then Thai administration's decision on the cancellation of the mega-land transport project. (TNA)