Bangkok’s popular new governor faces plenty of speedbumps ahead

BARELY a week after his landslide victory in Bangkok’s gubernatorial election, Chadchart Sittipunt has quickly gotten down to work as he seeks to fulfill his campaign promise to make the Thai capital more livable for its 10.7 million inhabitants.

Topping his to-do list will be the settlement of the dispute over the BTS Green Line concession, or the so-called Skytrain that has served the popular and profitable overhead mass transit route covering the busy Silom and Sukhumvit roads since 1999. The concession is due to expire in 2029.

Over the course of his campaign period that lasted 2 years, the 56-year-old Chadchart - a Transport Minister under the administration of former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra between 2011 and 2014 - made it clear that he was opposed to an extension of the BTS concession for another 30 years, or up to 2059.