By: WICHIT CHANTANUSORNSIRI

The public can monitor disbursements and progress of the 1.43-trillion-baht investment programme directly from the internet, says Chakrit Parapuntakul, deputy director-general of the Public Debt Management Office.

The programme will feature hundreds of billions of baht in new investments in logistics, social services, water management and other infrastructure over the next four years.

Projects are expected to number in the thousands, ranging from new roads to small irrigation projects to community hospital renovations.

To ensure transparency and accountability, the Finance Ministry will ensure spending data for each project are made available to the public through its Project Financial Monitoring System, said Mr Chakrit.

The system, expected to be launched next month, will be the country's first database to comprehensively monitor spending and budget disbursement on individual projects.

Users can track the progress of each project from initial committee screening to cabinet vetting, as well as view spending and procurement information.

The private sector will play a key role in implementing new infrastructure projects through public-private partnerships, said Mr Chakrit.

The government is in the process of reforming the 1992 joint public-private investment law that currently governs private sector contracts with the state, with the aim of increasing flexibility and reducing bureaucracy to assist the new infrastructure programme.

The Finance Ministry will hold a public hearing on the legal reforms on July 15.

The 1.43-trillion-baht infrastructure programme is being portrayed by the government as a massive stimulus aimed at jump-starting investment and economic growth while upgrading economic competitiveness over the medium term.

The ministry estimates that the programme could increase economic growth by some 1.3 percentage points, with minimal impact on the country's current account.

But new borrowing to finance the investments will push public debt to 60.8% of gross domestic product by 2013, up from 40% now. Debt is projected to fall back to 46.9% by 2018, based on assumptions that economic growth returns to a base rate of 5.5% per year by 2012 and the government budget returns to a surplus position by 2014.