“Abhisit” calls for a 10% cut to the Ministry of Transport budget, stressing that government allocations are misleading and lack unity. He criticizes the practice of leaving road construction budgets as committed expenditures, which may benefit vested interests and cronies, and highlights the emergence of voter coercion.
At 14:30 on 8 Sep 2026 GMT+7, Abhisit Vejjajiva, party-list MP and leader of the Democrat Party, spoke in parliament proposing a 10% budget cut for the Ministry of Transport. He expressed serious concerns about the government’s and ministry’s operations, noting that ministers frequently visit areas and announce projects, yet the budget documents do not match what is communicated to the public. For example, the land bridge project still has leftover study funds despite the government committee acknowledging concerns about its cost-effectiveness. He questioned why the parliamentary committee does not review or remove these funds, suggesting they might be deliberately left as a seed to continue the project. He also asked whether many large projects promoted during election campaigns, which criticized other parties, are actually continuations of previous governments’ work, such as the double-track railway from the administrations of Chuan Leekpai and his own. He criticized the current government for lacking coherence, failing to integrate rail and road systems systematically like the Southern Connect plan, and focusing most funds on road construction through committed budgets starting at only 15%, leaving future financial burdens that risk benefiting specific business groups and contractors.
“I want to warn about infrastructure issues in the eastern region, such as the unclear high-speed rail project linking three airports, which causes the country to lose direction in developing competitive capabilities. Transport and logistics are key to the nation's competitiveness. I urge the Thai government to have clear plans and allocate budgets accordingly, not just to benefit vested interests or promote logistics projects for electioneering. Vote-buying is already bad, but now there is a growing phenomenon of voter coercion, where they say you must elect MPs across the province to secure this or that project,” Abhisit said.