It has not been a great week for the Bangkok Mass Transit Authority (BMTA). The agency responsible for everything about Bangkok buses took two steps -- backwards. Eight new routes with gaudy vehicles and incomprehensible route signs were instantly judged more appalling than appealing. The BMTA then announced early details of its new effort to procure new, modern buses. That brought instant controversy from both the public and important places.
Bangkokians are well aware of the background in the second case. For far too many years, the BMTA has been trying to obtain exactly 489 new buses, driven by gas and with various modern devices such as GPSes, Wi-Fi capability, boarding ramps for the disabled and so on. Last year, on the cusp of putting such buses into service, the deal fell apart.
The BMTA had awarded a low-ball contract of 3.3 billion baht to a little-known Bang Phli-based firm specialising in custom buses, Bestlin Group. Owned by the Chinese bus builders Sunlong, Bestlin was charged with the entire task from finding a bus builder to actually putting the 489 new passenger vehicles on a Bangkok parking lot. Bestlin found what it said was a Chinese supplier, a Malaysian assembler. When the first buses arrived at the Laem Chabang port, Bestlin claimed the vehicles were made in Malaysia and subject to import tax exemption based on an Asean free-trade agreement.
The Customs Department, acting with extremely unusual accountability, informed the public it had found the buses were entirely made in China. The Malaysian deal was allegedly a subterfuge to claim special Asean import privileges. Customs seized the buses and sent a whopping import bill to Bestlin's designated import specialist, Super Zara Co. BMTA cancelled the contract, the buses went into limbo, and commuters stayed stuck with decades-old transportation.
So last week, while many fumed about its "new look" failure, the BMTA put out a new contract for bids. The specifications are almost identical. The expected median price rose to 3.4 billion baht. Bids were invited and among the first to get its bidding package into the BMTA hopper was the Bestlin Group.
Predictably, this caused a storm of outrage. First and most prominent among the protesters was Auditor-General Pisit Leelavachiropas. He claimed to the media that allowing the Bestlin Group to bid "jeopardises good governance". Then, to the astonishment of most, he said he would not even attempt to interfere if the BMTA simply went ahead.
Mr Pisit's outburst is just as astonishing as the BMTA's evident lack of awareness. If the auditor-general truly believes the Bestlin inclusion is somehow illegal, he should have acted months ago. Indeed, when the BMTA made public the names of the three firms bidding to supply the buses, Mr Pisit announced then that he intends to "dig deeper" into the original deal.
BMTA is acting timorously. It obviously has included Bestlin Group among the three acceptable bidders because it fears an aggressive lawsuit if it excludes the company. The BMTA earlier blacklisted Bestlin Group after the 489-bus import debacle and then took it off the blacklist. Justifying Bestlin's inclusion now is impossible. Like Mr Pisit, the public will not accept the BMTA's stand.
But legally the government-run bus company has a strong case. Police, prosecutors, Mr Pisit's OAG and the Customs Department all have failed to bring any charges against the Bestlin Group. It has legal standing to bid and, in fact, if the BMTA refused to accept its package, Bestlin could very well prevail in court. That would put bus procurement back, again to square one. The truth is that no one has acted well in this case, leaving Bangkok commuters the losers.
