The Department of Local Administration (DLA) has suspended the submission of project proposals by local administrative organisations under the government’s 200-billion-baht energy transition loan programme.
The decision follows criticism from the opposition that some of the projects appeared unrelated to clean energy objectives.
In a circular dated July 10, acting director-general Boonprasong Nuansai instructed all provincial governors to cancel the proposal process pending a review.
He said the move was intended to ensure that all projects proposed under the scheme complied with the objectives and spirit of the emergency decree.
The suspension revoked an earlier directive that had required local authorities to submit proposals by July 17 for provincial screening before being forwarded to the Interior Ministry.
The decision came after People’s Party deputy leader Sirikanya Tansakun questioned whether the programme could be used to insert projects for political or private gain under the guise of energy transition.
Ms Sirikanya said the opposition had obtained documents circulated to local authorities that resembled a catalogue of pre-selected projects rather than proposals initiated by local governments themselves.
Among the listed items were electric garbage trucks, solar-powered sports grounds, solar-powered oxygen generators and rooftop solar installations.
The level of detail raised concerns that vendors or contractors had already been quietly lined up, she said.
No approvals yet
Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul rejected the allegations, saying no projects had yet been approved.
The government had been waiting for the outcome of an opposition legal challenge to the 400-billion-baht borrowing decree in the Constitutional Court, which ruled this week that it was lawful.
Mr Anutin said all proposals must first pass scrutiny by a screening committee chaired by the permanent secretary for the Ministry of Finance and other senior officials before being submitted to the cabinet.
“There are no approved projects yet,” he said, dismissing suggestions that procurement specifications had been predetermined for items such as electric refuse trucks.
Deputy Interior Minister Worasit Liangprasit also defended the programme, saying the Interior Ministry had merely instructed the DLA to collect and screen proposals from local governments.
He said examples such as rooftop solar panels and electric ambulances were provided to help local authorities understand the types of projects that could support cleaner energy use in public services, not as a catalogue of mandatory purchases.
He said all procurement would be subject to the Budget Bureau’s standard pricing rules and strict screening criteria to ensure transparency.
