Bangkok: Critics have urged Thailand’s junta to reconsider the award of a US$7.1bil (RM29.6bil) high-speed rail contract to a consortium led by the kingdom’s richest family, just days before a new parliament is set to convene.
The junta, which has ruled since a 2014 coup, has faced criticism for a lack of transparency in its spending, with little oversight and no public debate on major infrastructure and arms schemes.
The area is a “gateway” to the massive Eastern Economic Corridor , the junta’s ambitious US$45bil infrastructure scheme to transform the coastal area between the cities into a tech hub. CP Group’s chairman is Dhanin Chearavanont, 80, the patriarch of Thailand’s richest family who is worth an estimated US$16.6bil according to Forbes.
But the timing of the deal has been questioned over fears it was hustled through before the new parliament meets.
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