Thailand’s massive infrastructure projects are essential for the nation’s development, Transport Minister Chadchart Sittipant said after a Thai court invalidated the legislation which would have made them possible.
Striking a positive note despite the setback, Chadchart said it wasn’t the loans which were rejected by the Consitutional Court in a unanimous vote yesterday, just the means of approving them.
Under legislation approved by the Senate in November, THB2 trillion in loans would have been sought to finance the construction of projects throughout the kingdom, most notably a large-high speed rail system
The projects are necessary to proceed with the infrastructure and transportation projects.
Visiting Chayapum province, caretaker Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra said politics should not interfere with important development efforts.
“We did it for the nation, so I want people to look at [our] intentions,” she said. “Do not look at how to use the law to abrogate people’s rights.”
Yingluck said the loans, which were criticized for going outside the normal appropriations process, were necessary because the government’s normal budgetary process already held too many other critical obligations, Bangkok Post reported.
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