Thai Power Line group wins Bangkok rail bidding
BANGKOK, June 23 (Reuters) - A group led by Thailand's Power Line Engineering PLE.BK and Ascon Construction ASCO.BK put in the lowest bid to build maintenance and parking facilities for Bangkok's 36 billion baht ($1.1 billion) "purple line" mass transit project.
It bid 6.39 billion baht, lower than the 6.88 billion baht from Thailand's largest construction firm, Italian-Thai Development ITD.BK, and 7.64 billion baht from a group led by Ch Karnchang CK.BK, the assistant governor of the Mass Rapid Transit Authority of Thailand, Chaisit Kururat, told reporters.
The third contract was the last lot for a 23 km (14 mile) elevated train line connecting outlying communities to the capital. The purple line will stretch from Bang Sue in northern Bangkok to Bang Yai in the neighbouring province of Nonthaburi.
The first contract was awarded to a group led by number two construction firm Ch Karnchang and Japan's Tokyu Construction (1720.T) and the second to third-ranked Sino-Thai Engineering and Construction (STEC.BK).
The purple line has advanced further than many planned infrastructure projects in Thailand, some of which have been delayed for years due to political turmoil.
At 0854 GMT, Power Line shares were down 6.8 percent at 1.50 baht, while Ascon fell 3.5 percent to 4.48 baht. The stocks have risen more than 10 percent over the last month.
Italian-Thai slipped nearly 10 percent to 2.76 baht, while Ch Karnchang dropped 3.7 percent to 3.68 baht. The overall Thai stock market .SETI was 3.5 percent lower. ($1=34.19 Baht) (Reporting by Pisit Changplayngam; Writing by Khettiya Jittapong; Editing by Alan Raybould)
