Date - March 15, 2010

An informed source of the Ministry of Finance (MoF) said that Finance Minister Korn Chatikavanij is set to grab opportunity to borrow seven billion Baht from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) to construct two projects during the road show in Japan to clarify Japanese investors about Map Ta Phut case on March 12-13.

The first project is construction of Purple line of electric train where money borrowing contract is the second one to borrow the money of five billion Baht.

The second is construction of the bridge over the river near Muang Non Harbor and of the road connecting both sides with the total financial amount of two billion baht.

In addition to borrowing the money from Japan, Mr. Korn is set to borrow from the World Bank about US$ one billion, Asian Development Bank, US$ 300 million, and JAICA, US$ 300 million to spend on Thai Khem Kheng (Strengthen Thailand) Project that needs to buy materials from foreign countries to deal with strength of Thai Baht.