Thailand: MEA says thicket of power lines going down

Thailand: MEA says thicket of power lines going down

The Metropolitan Electricity Authority (MEA) says it's ready to put all
power lines in Bangkok underground over the next five years after another
tranche of 48 billion baht was budgeted for the project.

The budget is reduced from 51.7 billion baht set last June, when the MEA
began the plan to bury power lines and other cables with a total length of
127 kilometres.

MEA assistant governor Tepsak Titaraksa said the project, dubbed Smart Metro
Part I, is to be undertaken during 2018-22.

Mr Tepsak said construction costs are down from the previous estimate
because some of the burden is to be shared with telecom companies such as
TOT Plc and CAT Telecom, which also make use of power lines and electricity
poles.

Terms of reference are being drafted for an auction to take place in the
third quarter of 2017 to allow private firms to bid on construction, he
said.

Mr Tepsak said some parts of the project are to be built along the path of
subways and skytrains that are still under construction or are about to
start construction, including the Yellow and Pink line monorails whose
construction is due to start in the second half of the year.

"We designed the project to be alongside Bangkok train projects from their
inception," he said.

The development cost of underground electricity lines is estimated to be
200-300 million baht per one kilometre, or around threefold more than normal
above-ground power lines, said Mr Tepsak.

The MEA yesterday conducted a workshop with representatives from the Bangkok
Metropolitan Administration (BMA), TOT, CAT Telecom, the tap water utility
and the telecom regulator to ensure a smooth process when the project
starts.

The first phase of the plan involves grouping all existing overhead power,
telecommunications and broadcasting cables into a single platform below
ground along 39 roads in Bangkok, Samut Prakan and Nonthaburi. This work is
scheduled to be completed in 2022, five years ahead of the original
schedule.

The MEA already developed a 45.5km underground power line worth 10 billion
baht, and installation is expected to be completed by the end of this year.

The BMA will manage and address any possible problems affecting people
during construction, while the police will help manage traffic during the
project. TOT will take charge of constructing an underground system costing
around 3 billion baht to compile all existing telecom and broadcasting
cables into a single platform.

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Link to Original Article:
http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/general/1271955/mea-says-thicket-of-power-li
nes-going-down

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John Diecker
APT Consulting Group Co., Ltd.

www.aptthailand.com