Finance Ministry plans big intergrated infrastructure fund

BANGKOK, Oct 16 (TNA) -- The Finance Ministry will launch a large-scaled infrastructure fund with an initial return rate guarantee by the government to attract investors. Finance Minister Apisak Tantivorawong said in the Post Forum 2015 on Oct 15 that his ministry planned to combine many infrastructure funds into one national fund to raise money from small and institutional investors as the government had many infrastructure projects including railways, motorways and deep-sea ports. The integrated fund would target the Social Security Fund, mutual funds, insurance firms and the Government Pension Fund among others. The government would guarantee initial returns because large-scaled investment projects would yield no or few returns in the first 4-5 years, Mr Apisak said. Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak said that with systematic management and the government guarantee of return rate, the infrastructure fund would receive a higher credit rating. Foreign funds would be welcomed to invest in the fund and open bidding contests would be organised to find contractors to build infrastructure projects. The contests would not be only among the 4-5 same old contenders as before, Mr Somkid said. (TNA)