Disputes between BEM-EXAT still Long Way to Go with 7 Cases for Total of ฿23Bln-Claims!

Regarding the case of Supreme Court’s resolution to uphold the Administrative Court’s decision in sentencing Expressway Authority of Thailand (EXAT) to compensate more than 1,800 million baht with interest to Northern Expressway Company Limited (NECL), a subsidiary of Bangkok Expressway and Metro Public Company Limited (BEM).

The controversial that led to the court’s decision was in the regard of the construction and operation of EXAT’s Don Muang tollway’s National Memorial-Rangsit that NECL claimed to be a conflict of interest with its Pakkret-Bang Pa-in expressway that the minister had appointed a private company to operate, while the terms and conditions state that the Pakkret-Bang Pa-in expressway was a non-competitive operation, thus requests EXAT to compensate the loss in revenue from the reduction of users as NECL had evaluated.

 

The arbitrators had ruled that the operation of Don Muang tollway’s National Memorial-Rangsit was considered a competitive business with NECL’s expressway, and ordered EXAT to compensate the loss in revenue to NECL.

The Supreme Court sees that the arbitrators’ decision was not against public order or morals, thus upheld the decision of the arbitrators and dismissed the petition from EXAT’s request the court to annul the arbitrators’ decision.

 

Nevertheless, Kaohoon Online had investigated on this controversial for further information and found that there were various cases that BEM had filed against EXAT that were in the consideration of the courts.

 

The case that rested on the Supreme Court was due to the petition filed by Bangkok Expressway Public Company Limited regarding the difference between the first day of 1st phase operation date. Thus, requested EXAT to share its earnings, which was the amount that Bangkok Expressway was supposed to receive, from the metropolitan’s network for a total of 3.8331 million baht with interest.

On April 20, 2011, EXAT had filed a petition with Administrative Court to dismiss the arbitrators’ decision, and on 1 9 October, BEM had requested the court to force EXAT to follow the decision of arbitrators’ and to pay for the interest up to date for a total of 1.189 million baht, which was 5.021.16 million baht when combined.

The court had ruled in BEM favors, and the case is currently in the middle of the Supreme Court consideration.

 

The case that is currently in the review of the administrative court was the case dated May 14, 2008, that Bangkok Expressway Public Company Limited filed against EXAT to compensate a total of 4,368 million baht with interest from the expressway fee adjustment of the 2nd phase of the city and metropolitan area network since 2003.

The compensation that EXAT would be paying was from the difference of fee in the vehicle types according to the rate quoted in the complaint and the rate from Ministry of Transportation dated August 29, 2003, and also additional fee as requested until the requested fee would be taken into action no later than August 31, 2008, with interest.

 

There are a total of five cases between BEM and EXAT that are in the review of the arbitrators as follow:

 

1. According to the article 19, an exception incident, in the contract, BEM requested EXAT to compensate the loss from economy fluctuation in Thailand that caused an inflation and high-interest rate, which had burdened BEM to pay extra 5.12 million baht with interest than what they had agreed in the contract.

 

2. On July 24, 2008 Bangkok Expressway Public Company Limited had requested EXAT to pay the compensation of the different in express fee from vehicle types of 2nd phase expressway, D section, according to the rate quoted in the complaint and the rate from Ministry of Transportation dated August 29, 2003 and also additional fee as requested until the requested fee would be taken into action no later than August 31, 2008, with interest. The total of this compensation was 1,048.24 million baht with interest.

 

3. On June 13, 2013, Bangkok Expressway Public Company Limited had requested EXAT to pay the compensation of the different in express fee of the city and metropolitan network from vehicle types according to the rate quoted in the complaint and the rate from Ministry of Transportation dated August 15, 2003, for a total of 9,091.79 million baht.

 

4. On June 28, 2013 Bangkok Expressway Public Company Limited had requested EXAT to pay the compensation of the different in express fee from vehicle types of 2nd phase expressway, D section, according to the rate quoted in the complaint and the rate from Ministry of Transportation dated August 15, 2003 for a total of 4,062.83 million baht.

 

5. NECL had filed a complaint with Thailand Arbitration Center against EXAT regarding the compensation of the different of express fee adjustment in 2003 on Pakkret-Bang Pa-in expressway according to the rate quoted in the complaint and the rate from Ministry of Transportation dated August 29, 2003, for a total of 69 million baht.

 

In addition, the total amount from all 7 cases that BEM had filed against EXAT is as high as 23.6 billion baht, which will positively reflect in BEM’s business and its shares in the stock market.