City Hall will review three projects approved by past administrations which have been incurring heavy losses in an effort to make them more profitable, said deputy Bangkok governor Wisanu Subsompon.
They are the resiting of overhead electrical wires underground, the Klong Phadung Krung Kasem commuter boat service, and the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system along Narathiwat Ratchanakarin Road.
As the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) has had to shoulder heavy losses incurred by the projects, City Hall will review their management and operation, he said.
He gave an assurance the projects won't be scrapped.
Back in 2018, BMA hired Krungthep Thanakom (KT), its investment arm, to start moving the city's electrical cables, which are known to be both an eye-sore and a safety hazard, underground, with a budget of 1.93 billion baht.
Under the agreement, KT would absorb the cost of laying out about 2,450 kilometres of underground cables. In exchange, it would be allowed to lease out the cables to an electricity and telecommunications provider.
The project, however, remains unfinished, and no service providers have shown any interest in using the underground cables that KT had laid out.
"It was an expensive lesson," he said, noting the project's feasibility should have been studied more carefully.
In the meantime, he said, the BMA will try to find customers for the cables.
The commuter boat service along Klong Phadung Krung Kasem, meanwhile, hasn't been running since September last year, when the contractor's concession expired. The halt coincided with the peak of the rainy season, which prompted authorities to drain the canal's water to allow it to receive runoff from surrounding areas.
Also, ridership was low due to the Covid-19 pandemic. As a result, the BMA decided to put the brakes on the 106-million-baht commuter service, which has 12 boats in its fleet.
Mr Wisanu said the BMA will find a new operator in April. It will also adjust the route and possibly allow excursion or taxi boat services to use the canal to supplement revenue, he said. The BMA was spurred into action after netizens blasted it for leaving the boats idle for months. Mr Wisanu said maintenance costs also drove the project further into the red.
As for the BRT, the deputy governor said it would be modified after the contract with the current operator ends in August.
