THURSDAY, March 28, 2024
nationthailand

Charae explains delays

Charae explains delays

THE SACKED secretary-general of the House of Representatives Secretariat yesterday issued a statement to explain delays in construction of the new Parliament building.

The Bt12-billion project in Kiak Kai area began in 2013 and set to be finished this year. Sino-Thai Engineering and Construction won the construction, but struggled with a delay in the handover of the designated land plots, which were being occupied by schools and other buildings and could not be relocated in time.
PM Prayut Chan-o-cha removed Charae Panpruang as secretary-general of the secretariat amid speculation that he may have been negligent in his duty concerning the land exchange. Charae said the delay was largely because some bureaucratic agencies occupying the land failed to hand it over within the deadline. He also assured the construction was being carried out professionally under consultation and supervision of a procurement committee and its specialists. The secretariat had already managed to clear the land expropriation issue with Yothinburana School which delayed the relocation by making payments to it twice, totalling Bt1,105 million. The delay in the land handover by the school was an internal issue in which the secretariat could not intervene. 
The secretariat managed to clear up piles of soil dug up at the construction site under consultation and supervision of a committee set up to take charge. Some of the soil, 500,000 cubic metres was donated to a foundation under consultation with the Treasury Department. But the soil was used for the wrong purpose and legal charges have been filed. And finally, any adjustments to the construction plan were carried out under consultation and consideration of the procurement committee, including the latest extension to the construction period.
Charae said he and his officials had proceeded with the construction work of the new Parliament following the rule of law and in close consultation and supervision of the committee and specialists.The delay, he said, was unfortunate and concerned various factors, including the interruption in the land hand-over by other agencies.
 
“I insist that I performed my duty with utmost honesty and was never negligent as accused. Please be fair to me,” he said.
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