Court approval sought for test runs of 16 suspended projects at Map Ta Phut

11-Feb-10

The Thai government plans to submit a new petition within a week seeking court approval for test runs for 16 of the suspended Map Ta Phut industrial projects. Most of the projects are linked with subsidiaries of the Siam Cement Group such as Thai Polyethylene, Thai MMA and BST Elastomers Last month was disappointing for the suspended projects whose petition was rejected by the Administrative Court. After that, the Industry Ministry sought advice from the Office of the Attorney General to identify projects with potential to seek an easing of the suspension orders. The Office of the Attorney General is also advising the ministry on its petition to the Supreme Administrative Court on behalf of the 16 projects. The ministry plans to submit petitions for 12 of the projects and wait for approval from the foreign business partners of the other four before taking further action. These projects are near completion and expect to begin operating next year. Instead of deferring them for 6-12 months until they finish environmental and health impact assessments, this step advocates completion of construction and test-runs, while making reports as the law requires. PTT Plc also submitted a petition last week for nine projects including its 28-billion-baht sixth gas separation plant and petrochemical plants.