Court rejects EIA report on luxury condo project

The court ruled in favour of 23 residents of two other condominiums on Soi Langsuan. It said the EIA report for the Mahadlek Residences Condominium project had been unlawfully approved by a committee of specialists in charge of considering the report.
The project is located on Mahadlek Soi 2, off Rajdamri Road in Lumpini sub-district of Pathumwan district. The developer, Thai Factory Development Plc (TFD), has leased a 2,872.15-square-metre plot from the Office of the Privy Purse for 30 years to construct a 43-floor condominium building with 516 units.
TFD filed an application for EIA approval in 2010. The EIA of the project was approved on April 3, 2014.
The court ruled that the approval was unlawful and the ruling would take effect retroactively from April 3, 2014.
The court reasoned that the project had no access to a public road as Mahadlek Soi 2 and Mahadlek Soi 3, where the project is located, are on a private property. Moreover, the two sois have a width of less than 18 metres, as required by the building control law for a large condominium to be situated.
The court added that the project’s floor-area-ratio of 15.23:1 is higher than the 10:1 that’s legally permissible.
The court also said the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration’s city planning had designated the area as a red zone or commercial zone, which requires a large building to have at least a 12-metre part of the project connected to a public way that is at least 12-metres wide or 18 metres wide in case the road is not a public road.
No unit of the project has been sold to the public yet, TFD CEO Apichai Taecahubol said.