Sep. 28--The Metropolitan Electricity Authority plans talks with City Hall, telecom firms and mass-transit operators to speed up the installation of underground power transmission lines in most areas of the capital.

At present, only Silom Road and the area around the Grand Palace have underground power lines, while work is under way in the Phaya Thai, Sukhumvit and Phahon Yothin areas under a 3-billion-baht project, said MEA governor Pornthape Thunyapongchai.

"It's very difficult for us to bury the transmission lines in Bangkok due to our financial burden and a poor city development plan, which was done several decades ago," he said.

Meanwhile, underground installation has stalled in some areas because some telecom operators are not ready to bury telecom wires due to delayed budget allocations for the project, said Mr Pornthape.

"On some routes, there are many underground objects such as the pipelines for natural gas, tap water and waste water that obstruct us in installing our underground project," he said.

"Consequently, we have to discuss this matter with the operators of those systems."

The authority has estimated it will need to spend more than 160 billion baht to bury all power lines covered by the scheme. The project, however, has been delayed.

"In some area such as Chinatown, the local residents do not welcome this project because it has to close traffic for many years, or because of loud noise during the night time, when construction takes place," he said.

The MEA has discussed with mass transit operators ways to prepare for underground installations along train routes to facilitate the project's development.

"Amid the concerns over climate change, rainstorms in the city have become more severe than before and that would affect security of power transmission along the roads," he said. "The MEA, however, has been reluctant to cut down trees because we want to keep as many green areas as possible."

The MEA yesterday officially switched on its second 230,000-volt transmission line from its Phloen Chit headquarters to Min Buri. The route of the 3.9-billion-baht project runs for 7 kilometres under the Saen Saep Canal.

Last year, the first high-voltage line, worth 3 billion baht, was set up, linking Lat Phrao to Vibhavadi Rangsit Road with a length of 8 km.

Two high-voltage transmission tunnels feature in the MEA's multi-billion-baht underground development plan to secure power transmission and improve tourism.

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