Bangkok’s Billion Baht Debacle: Shocking Legal Battle Ignites over BTS Skytrain’s Sky-High Debt – Who Will Foot the Bill?

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Since April 2017, the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) and Krungthep Thanakom (KT) have found themselves in further debt for the operations and upkeep on two extensions of the Green Line, owned by the BTS Skytrain operator, BTSC.

In an unexpected turn of events in September 2021, BTSC took the initiative to file a lawsuit against BMA. The lawsuit was over an impressive 12 billion baht debt that BMA had accrued for the operation of the Green Line extension. However, that was not the end of the financial ordeal – an additional outstanding balance of 20 billion baht was also mentioned, attributable to the train operating system.

The saga continued into the next year, with the Central Administrative Court stepping in during September 2022. The court issued an order that demanded both BMA and KT clear their debt of 12.6 billion baht tied to the operation of the Green Line extensions. The court was clear in its decree, specifying a binding time frame of 180 days for debt clearance.

True to form, Bangkok’s Governor, Chadchart Sittipunt, announced that the BMA would challenge the court’s ruling. This wasn’t unexpected as the stakes were high, and the debt was mounting quickly.

However, in an interesting development that Thursday, the Supreme Administrative Court issued their verdict. They ruled that debt relevant to the 2nd extension must be trimmed down, citing that the train fare during the period stretching from April 2017 to May 2021 had not been officially confirmed.

With this new development, the financial liabilities – the debt from BMA and KT to BTSC – recalculate as follows:

• The debt inducing from the operation and maintenance of the 1st extension to the Green Line sums up to 2.348 billion baht (2.199 billion baht prior to interest addition).
• The operation and maintenance of the 2nd extension of the Green Line has a resulting debt amounting to 9.406 billion baht (which was an initial 8.786 billion baht before the interest mount).

The final verdict and the subsequent division of debts shed new light on the long-standing financial quandary. Yet, the ultimate resolution awaits as the saga continues to unravel.