Thailand and Japan signed a loan agreement on Friday under which the Thai Finance Ministry will get 166,860 million yen or 53,479 million baht in loan from Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) for the implementation of the State Railway of Thailand’s Red Line rail project from Bangsue to Rangsit.
Signing the agreement on behalf of the Thai government was Finance Minister Apisak Tantiworawong and Japanese ambassador Shiro Sadoshima on behalf of JICA.
The terms of condition of the loan agreement are considered as favourable. The loan is payable in 15 years with grace period for the first five years and it will be disbursed in six years with interest rate at 0.30 percent and 0.1 percent per annum for consultancy fee plus 0.20 percent fee for the loan on the condition that half of the fee will be returned after the loan was fully disbursed.
The suburban Red Line from Bangsue terminal to Rangsit is expected to become operational in 2020. It is also expected to accommodate at least 300,000 passengers a day.
