Bankrupt persons and those who have been imprisoned should not be allowed to co-invest with the state in mega-projects, said Yajai Pattanasukwasun, Director of the Bureau of Legal Affairs, State Enterprise Policy Office, Ministry of Finance.
In order to make co-investment transparent between both sides, Ms Yajai said the Office has issued a regulation stipulating that those who are bankrupt and those who have been imprisoned on serious offences should not be allowed to co-invest with the state in mega-projects.
Firms that are hired to act as consultants must have undertaken an advisory role in at least three projects which must also be already implemented.
The consultant firm must also not have any link with private companies which have proposed joint investments with the state, and they must not be politicians or civil servants, she said.
It is believed that most projects carry less than one billion baht in investment each and are undertaken at the provincial level while approval could be given by provincial officers.
Meanwhile, Seree Nonthasoot, deputy managing director of the State Enterprise Policy Office, suggested that although the law allowing private citizens and firms to co-invest with the state was enacted in 2013, sufficient preparations have not been made and the state ought to prepare special procedures, including a scrutiny committee which has a duty to screen issues before forwarding them to the cabinet for consideration.
There are several mega-projects and it is necessary to have such a committee, said Seree.
The state has set aside revolving capital amounting Bt500 million for used as fee in hiring advisory firms for projects requiring more than one billion baht investment.
As a result, several new advisory firms have been established lately.
