New NGV buses

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Nereus
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Re: New NGV buses

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Bestlin finally delivers some buses in drawn-out saga

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/general ... n-out-saga

The Bangkok Mass Transit Authority (BMTA) has received 292 natural gas vehicle (NGV) buses from the Bestlin Group after the firm paid import tax on the vehicles.

The 292 NGV buses are among the 489 buses to be added to the BMTA fleet.

The vehicles arrived some weeks ago. However, 99 of the buses were impounded on suspicion of having been falsely declared as having been manufactured in Malaysia to take advantage of zero import tax permitted under the Asean free-trade agreement.

A third group of 291 buses were delivered to Thailand later. The manufacturer declared the first lot of one bus, plus the third group of 291, would not take the tax privilege and agreed to pay the 40% import tax for them.

The remaining 98 buses have not yet reached Thai shores.

Surachai Eamvachirasakul, chief of the BMTA, said the full import tax for 292 buses has been settled with the company, which last year was contracted to supply the 489 NGV buses.

After Thursday's delivery of the 292 buses, officials will progressively install global positioning equipment on the buses and have them registered with the Land Transport Department. A BMTA-appointed procurement panel will then make a full check of the vehicles' specifications.

The inspection would be finished this month and the new buses will go into commercial service next month, he said.

Super Zara Co was hired by Bestlin to handle the imports. The buses for which the full tax had been paid have been cleared through customs.

However, Bestlin and Super Zara are sorting out tax problems of the 99 NGV buses in the second lot after the Customs Department suspects the importer allegedly made a false tax declaration.
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Nereus
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Re: New NGV buses

Post by Nereus »

The Saga continues:
............................................................................................................
As 10 firms bail, JV last man standing in Bangkok bus bid

https://www.bangkokpost.com/news/genera ... recent_box

SCN-CHO, a joint venture, is the sole remaining bidder to supply 489 natural gas-powered buses for Bangkok after 10 firms pulled out of the race for the 4.02-billion-baht city bus project.

The Bangkok Mass Transit Authority (BMTA) board will be asked to give final approval on Dec 20. This will follow price negotiations between the alliance of the BMTA, energy company Scan Inter Plc (SCN) and public transport supplier Cho Thavee (CHO), BMTA board chairman Nattachat Jarujinda said.

A contract should be inked this month, he said.

Mr Nattachat was confident the much-delayed procurement project to replace part of the BMTA's ageing fleet would materialise before the new school semester in June, as demanded by newly appointed Deputy Transport Minister Pailin Chuchottaworn.

The plan to acquire a new fleet of NGV buses was initiated 11 years ago.

The BMTA in September last year awarded the contract to Bestlin Group but it was revoked this April after the company missed the delivery deadline.

A problem arose when the Customs Department suspected the buses were assembled in China, not Malaysia as claimed by Super Zara Co, which handled the imports. It believed this was done for tax-exemption purposes by exploiting an Asean free-trade agreement.

The BMTA failed to find a new supplier for months before it decided to relax the conditions of purchase and allow bidders to deliver the buses within 180 days, Mr Nattachat said.

The state-run bus agency has extended the delivery period from 120 days and promised to pay the supplier as soon as each batch is delivered.

Cho Thavee executive Krin Chayawisut said the price SCN-CHO offered was higher than the median value of 4.02 billion baht but still within the 10% margin set by the BMTA.

The joint venture made a bid of 4.4 billion baht, a BMTA source said. The companies will import the buses from Jiangxi Kama Business Bus Co in China, he added.

The BMTA is mulling "delaying or revoking" the installation of cash boxes on 2,600 buses due to doubts about their functionality.
May you be in heaven half an hour before the devil know`s you`re dead!
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