City eyes share of Saen Saep ferry cash

Operator denies owing anything to the BMA

SUPOJ WANCHAROEN

City Hall is considering demanding a fee from a firm running a ferry service on the Saen Saep canal as part of plans to boost plummeting revenues. A proposal to collect a pier usage fee was proposed yesterday in a meeting of a committee on revenue generation chaired by city councillor Pradermchai Bunchuayluea.

Mr Pradermchai said Transportation Family Co is the sole private operator of the Klong Saen Saep shuttle ferry service between Saphan Panfa and Wat Sriboonrueng.

He said when Maj-Gen Chamlong Srimuang was Bangkok governor the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) received some revenue from the service, but that was not the case now. Mr Pradermchai said the firm was given the right to run the ferry on a ''trial basis'', which was not considered a concession, and therefore the BMA could not collect a concession fee from the firm.

He said this should be revised so that City Hall could get some benefit from the service. The BMA spent a lot of money on the management and maintenance of landing piers along the Saen Saep canal.

Mr Pradermchai said collecting a fee from Transport Family Co was one means of increasing the city's revenues. The city should also should look into bills left unpaid by businesses or individuals who use its resources but have not made payments.

Last year the BMA earned only 90 million baht from allowing private companies to rent its land or use facilities such as the piers, he said.

However, the BMA admitted that its management was partly to blame for turning a blind eye to revenue collection.

The committee's chairman asked the BMA's finance office to gather more information on the boat service and submit the findings to the committee on Feb 14.

Transportation Family Co owner Chaowalit Metayaprapas argued that his company, not the BMA, paid for maintenance and security guards at the piers, at a cost of two to three million baht a year.

Moreover, the piers his boats used were public property supervised by the Marine Department. Therefore, his firm should not be subject to any fee charged by the BMA.

He said the firm had operated the ferry for 18 years without having to share any revenue with the BMA.

Mr Chaowalit insisted there was no law which required his company to enter a revenue-sharing arrangement.

His company, with 60 boats in service, carried around 30,000 passengers every day. The income was enough to sustain the company ''but we're far from rich'', he said.

Bangkok Post
Wednesday January 31, 2007