The Bangkok Post reported that in the first half of next year an auction to seek developers for the State Railway of Thailand’s (SRT) prime land plot owned in the Makkasan area will commence.
A recent agreement between the Thailand’s Treasury Department and the SRT over the lease period paved the way for the auction to go ahead. The department will lease 497 rai of land for 99 years from the SRT in exchange for clearing THB60-70 billion of the debt as part of the deal.
Development of the SRT’s Makkasan plot was conducted earlier, but conflicting appraisal values saw talks between the two sides stall. The SRT appraised the land at THB250,000 a square wah, while the Treasury Department assessed it at 115,000 baht a sq wah.
The SRT hoped to grant the Treasury Department a lease of 30 years plus a renewal of 30 years, but the Finance Ministry countered that the period wasn’t longer enough. The current law limites the lease at a maximum of 50 years,; however, the government is amending the related legislation to allow the deal to go through.
A study of the details of the project’s development will be done the Treasury Department before they lay down terms of reference, Thailand finance minister Sommai Phasee told The Bangkok Post.
The preliminary development plan calls for 150 rai to be developed as a public park, 30 rai for a museum and 317 rai for commercial purposes will be developed in two phases.
The first phase of the commercial development will be 140 rai and second phase will handle the remaining 177 rai. The second phase will begin development 18 months after the first phase starts.
At the moment Makkasan plot consists of a large swamp and a total of 497 rai of land that can be developed plus the Airport Rail Link’s Makkasan station and an SRT hospital. The lease of Makkasan is part of the Finance Ministry’s plan to clear some of the SRT’s hefty debt, according to the newspaper.
