Govt 'will have to pay Bt9.6 bn for Klong Dan'
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THE GOVERNMENT will have to pay more than Bt9.6 billion in compensation to a consortium over the corruption-plagued Klong Dan wastewater-treatment plant, which has been cancelled, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha confirmed yesterday.
NVPSKG won its case after suing the Pollution Control Department (PCD) for compensation via the Supreme Administrative Court.
“I have assigned Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu KreaNgam and the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry to negotiate until the very last second. It’s not possible to push the amount lower than this,” Prayut said.
He confirmed the amount at Bt9.618 billion.
The Supreme Administrative Court issued a ruling in favour of NVPSKG last November.
Kasemsun Chinnavaso, the ministry’s permanent secretary, said this week that after post-ruling negotiations, the consortium agreed to waive the interest charge of Bt1.8 million per day. He said it was agreed that the PCD would pay NVPSKG Bt3 billion in May and Bt6 billion in November next year.
“Money will be allocated from all state-owned agencies’ fiscal budgets,” Kasemsun said.
In 1997, NVPSKG won a project to design and build the Klong Dan facility from the PCD. In 2004, PCD lodged complaints against several companies that were part of the consortium, accusing them of fraud.
In 2009, several government officials and politicians, including former deputy interior minister Vatana Asavahame, were found guilty of corruption related to the Klong Dan project. Vatana is now on the run.
The Supreme Administrative Court ruled that NVPSKG had completed part of construction required for the Klong Dan project and that the PCD had to pay for work that was done.
The project, if it had not been cancelled, was worth about Bt23 billion.
“I don’t know if the parts of the construction done can be of any use now,” Prayut said.
