BANGKOK, Oct 10 (Reuters) - Three major Thai banks will lend nearly $2 billion to Northern Bangkok Monorail and Eastern Bangkok Monorail to build the country's first elevated monorail network in the capital.
Bangkok Bank BBL.BK , Krung Thai Bank KTB.BK and Siam Commercial Bank SCB.BK have signed a 63.4 billion baht ($1.90 billion) loan agreement for the construction of elevated mechanical runways, monorails and signal systems for two lines, Bangkok Bank said in a statement on Tuesday.
The project is a public-private partnership between the state-owned Mass Rapid Transit Authority of Thailand, BTS Group BTS.BK , Sino-Thai Engineering and Construction STEC.BK and Ratchaburi Electricity RATCH.BK , said Northern Bangkok Monorail and Eastern Bangkok Monorail CEO Keeree Kanjanapas, who is also the chairman of BTS Group.
Sino-Thai will be the civil engineering contractor, while Canadian train manufacturer Bombardier BBDb.TO will be responsible for systems and monorail trains, he said, adding that the project is expected to complete in 2020.
Bangkok Bank, the lead financier, would contribute a third of the total loan amount, or 21.1 billion baht, its President Chatsiri Soponpanich, said in the statement.
($1 = 33.3200 baht)