Senators Aiming to Kill the "Subway Business Center" Plan
Siam Turakij, May 27-June 2, 2001

A senator insists the MRTA land development plan on 700 rai has gone too far
Senator Seri Suwanphanon insists that MRTA cannot exploit the public utlity land for commercial gain since it violates the expropriation law in the Constitution. Senator Seri is preparing to ask the Senate to set up a committee to investigate the MRTA land deal and ask the cabinet why the government let MRTA make a commercial exploitation. Pheeraphong Saleeratthawiphak (Democrat MP from Phayathai Constituency) who was on of the Transportation Committee in the previous administration stated that the MRTA Act they passed had a provision allowing small shops and restaurants to facilitate subway passengers, not the big business area MRTA plans. If the Thaksin government allows MRTA to exploit the land, the government will be stamped as "Bandits Robbing People!" MRTA decided not to reveal the land development plan to the MRTA committee since they felt the heat from the opposition even though they claimed that final plan is not settled. According to the land development plan drafted by RMJM (Thailand), CB Richard Ellis (Thailand), and PB Asia consultant companies, MRTA needs to invite the private sector to invest in the land so that it will meet the schedule of August 12, 2003 (the day the subway system is starting). Even though MRTA was planning to put the draft on land development to the MRTA Board on May 23, 2001, there was actually no plan discussion during the meeting at that day. The meeting was held at the Emerald Hotel with Dr. Suphachai Phisitwanit as the chair instead of the MRTA HQ. The meeting lasted from 11:00 AM to 12:30 PM. After that, they had lunch in the Chinese restaurant.

Meeting results
The results from this meeting showed that the latest progress is 2% off the target, and there was a new subcommittee to make an internal audit headed by Mr. Thoedsak Setthamanop (MRTA Engineering Director). However, the land development plan was not on the agenda even though the MRTA Director was planning to push the plan on this meeting. After the meeting, MRTA Director told Siam Turakij correspondents that this meeting was a welcome meeting for the new MRTA Board, so they decided to change the meeting place and hold a banquet for the new committee. The reason why the MRTA director decided not bring up the land plan during the meeting was that MRTA and the consultant companies need to revise the land allocation according to the discussion with the Huay Kwang Civic Society two weeks ago. As soon as the revision is done, the land development plan will be brought up in an MRTA meeting in the future. However, an MRTA source has told Siam Turakij that MRTA committee has felt heat from the opposition, especially from the mass media and lawyers which saw that MRTA was going to commit crimes against the former landowners and violate the Constitution. Therefore, MRTA decided to suspend the land development plan for a while until everything is fine.

Seri Suwannabhanon (Bangkok Senator) Insists that MRTA Act Has No Right to Commercialize the MRTA Land
Senator Seri Suwannabhanon (Bangkok Senator and a Legal Expert) has continuously insisted that MRTA has no right to make commercial development of land expropriated from the people. He also told Siam Turakij correspondents that there must be some irregularities in the law approval process before MRTA Act became a reality on November 24, 2000 since the Act has so many sections and the sections relating to the land development are separated, so the Senate cannot figure out the actual intention of the law that allows commercial development on MRTA land even though there was nothing that mentioned about the land development in the previous Law relating to the MRTA land. Even though the MRTA Act has empowered MRTA to make a commercial development on their land, it does not allow MRTA to exploit the land for profit on their whim since the MRTA Act states that MRTA could make commercial development for service facilitation (in and around stations for passengers). The senator said "There are controversies about the actual meaning of the phrase 'According to the Necessaries that benefit MRTA services.' I can see no difficulties in defining such a term at all since it requires narrow interpretation on the terms to get the exact meaning. MRTA has no right at all to make a broad interpretation of the law (to allow the construction of a shopping center, hotels, markets, or so) for commercial gain since it violates the principals of this Act."

Revealing that MRTA Violates Royal Proclamation on Land Expropriation and the Constitution
Senator Seri also said that MRTA was violating the Royal Proclamation of the land expropriation if MRTA insists that they have full rights to make commercial development on the land they obtain through the expropriation since the land expropriation principles have explicitly stated that MRTA has the right to expropriate the land ONLY for the mass transit system. Furthermore, the 48th Article of the 1997 People's Constitution said persons have full rights to protect and preserve personal properties and the 49th Article in the 1997 People's Constitution also explicitly states that No Government Office has rights to expropriate land except for public utilities. Any attempt to make commercial development on the MRTA land expropriated from the local people is considered violating the 48th and the 49th Articles in the Constitution since MRTA has abused the rights stated in MRTA Act to "rob and violate" the land form the people for commercial gain.

Preparing to Tell the Senate to Set up an Investigation Committee and Ask the Government about the MRTA Land Development
Senator Seri said after perusing the commercial land deal of MRTA from the consultant companies, he slammed the conclusion that "MRTA is telling a lie and committing crimes against the former landowners since the MRTA land development plan has explicitly shown that MRTA is going to exploit their land expropriated from the local people for profits even though those folks were willing to receive cheap compensation and sacrifice for the public good. Such action committed by MRTA is totally unacceptable." "If MRTA is starting the land development project, I (Senator Seri) will send the proposal to the Senate to set up the investigation committee to deal with MRTA and deliver the questions to the Cabinet to check if such action from MRTA is appropriate or otherwise. The government has to take the responsibility to deal with the former landowners, and I (Senator Seri) will volunteer to get the land back from MRTA."

Former Transportation Committee Member States that MRTA Has No Right to Make a Commercial Deal on Expropriated Land
MAP Pheeraphongse Saleeratthawiphak (Democrat MP of Bangkok -> Phayathai Constituency), one of the former Transportation Committee which had reviewed the MRTA Act before approval told Siam Turakij correspondents that there were several arguments about land development before realizing the act. Therefore, the committee has stated in the law that the commercial development of MRTA land will be for the activities necessary for the MRTA services, not commercial development. "We (MAP Pheeraphongse and Transportation Committee) have made several reviews of the Act while MRTA keeps insisting that the new MRTA Act should have a provision allowing the commercial exploitation or the government needs to pay an annual bail out since MRTA becomes a loss-maker. We keep responding to the MRTA's request that we cannot allow MRTA land development beyond the activities that increase the travel convenience for the passengers. Any further land development must be done on the land MRTA purchases, not land MRTA has expropriated"

Advising the Government that "Allowing MRTA to Create a New Business City... (is like) Robbing People in Broad Daylight"
MP Pheeraphongse said that it is unacceptable for government offices to exploit legal loopholes to pay very low for expropriation while milking high profits from commercial rents. If MRTA insists that they have legal rights to do so, he will oppose such a deal at all costs. He believes that the mass media and the former owners of the land will never allow such a dirty deal to exist. Nevertheless, it depends upon the Thaksin government to make a decision on this issue. If the Thaksin government accepts the MRTA land development scheme, the Thaksin government will be condemned as "bandits robbing people."

Stealing 700 rai of expropriated land to construct a shopping center
Siam Business Weekly (AKA Siam Turakij), Vol. 7, No. 334, May 6-12, 2001

Note: This is a rather repetitive article from Siam Turakij, a newspaper that has been very harsh in its criticism of MRTA and their "dirty land deal."

MRTA acts as if it were a cowboy by drafting a land utilization plan to use almost 700 rai of MRTA depot land (more than 1 million square meters of office space) for commercial deals such as a giant convention center, commercial buildings, department stores, and a shopping center without delay. Furthermore, MRTA is going to send the plan to the MRTA Board on May 23 to approve the land utilization for commercial deals.

The MRTA director said that the government will have to subsidize the subway and carry a heavy burden of debt from the operation unless the plan for commercial land utilization become a reality. On the other hand, the law experts point out that "the 90 billion baht commercial deal on MRTA land" is illegal and unconstitutional since it violates the land expropriation term which limits land utilization to activities relating to mass transit operation and the facilitation for the passengers. Therefore, such commercial deal is going to distort the MRTA act for their own gain. MRTA has no right to exploit their land by the construction of a shopping center, a hotel, and commercial buildings.

If MRTA insists that it has the legal rights to do so, lawyers said the former landowners can file lawsuits against MRTA to get their land back to prevent the MRTA land deal from becoming a precedent for other public offices to rob land from the poor and powerless by land expropriation for a bargaining cost and sell the land plot to capitalists with sky-high prices.

There are controversies about the law in MRTA Act of BE2543 (AD2000) which becomes effective on December 1, 2000 which states that MRTA has the power to develop the expropriated land for commercial uses so as to support mass transit operations despite the 1992 Royal Proclamation of MRTA Organization and 1993 Second Royal Proclamation of MRTA Organization. These do not state that MRTA had power to make commercial development on their land at all. MRTA has continuously attempted to pursue the government to issue an act that empowers MRTA to make a commercial deal on their land with claims that it is impossible to profit from ticket fees alone.

Many people oppose such a deal. MRTA also said they have an "air right" to build high-rise buildings on their land for commercial development. However, the Council of State has explicitly stated that MRTA has NO RIGHT to make a commercial development on the land they expropriated from local people. Nevertheless, MRTA eventually succeeded in lobbying the government to pass an MRTA Act which states in Article 9(11) that "MRTA shall have rights to develop the expropriated land for MRTA services." Such a statement is therefore a hidden agendum to exploit expropriated land for commercial deals. The 900-rai area left over from the construction of MRTA depot and maintenance center (300 rai) is in Tiam Ruam Mitr-Rama IX Road area - a business area with a market price of 150,000 - 250,000 baht/square wah (400 square wah = 1 rai, 1000 square wah is about 1 acre). Such a treasure trove has a price of 90 billion baht (US$ 2.25 billion).

Recently, Governor Samak Sunthoravet sent a proposal to rent 153 rai of MRTA land for the Bangkok Night Bazaar to sell famous product from all 76 provinces around the country to tourists and to comply with the government policy to promote the local products (1 commune, 1 product). Furthermore, MRTA is making a move on commercial development on their land by hiring Richard Ellis Co.Ltd. and BMGM Co.Ltd (consulting companies) to study the maximum utilization of MRTA land.