The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) may introduce a new set of guidelines for the selection of contractors to implement its major construction projects, in an effort to tighten up controls on construction sites relating to the environment, drainage systems and overweight trucks.

The new measures were raised at a meeting yesterday (Friday) between senior city officials, led by Bangkok Governor Chadchart Sittipunt, Deputy Governor Wisanu Subsompon, director of the Public Works Department Tawatchai Napasaksri and representatives of more than 30 construction firms which have engaged in the construction of roads, bridges, overpasses, elevated roads and buildings in the capital.

The meeting was called after an accident on Monday night when a segment of an overpass under construction in Lat Krabang district collapsed, killing two people and injuring about 10 others.

Governor Chadchart said that the new guidelines will cover records of on-site accidents causing loss of life and property, construction delays, environmental impacts, such as discharging PM2.5 dust into the atmosphere, using overweight trucks and causing construction debris to fall onto roads.

He said, however, that the city’s administration will not resort to blacklisting contractors who have poor records at this stage, because that would be beyond the authority of the administration.

The governor said that he has instructed all district chief officers to send inspectors to construction sites on regular basis, to make sure that the contractors are complying with measures covering public safety, traffic management, environmental quality and drainage.

Regarding drainage, the governor explained that contractors must ensure that construction materials do not fall into the drains, clogging waste water flow, and they must control the amount of PM2.5 dust emitted into the environment.

He noted that the most common construction related complaint received by the BMA concerns contractors who, after completion of their projects, do not remove their equipment from the road quickly enough, causing an obstruction to normal traffic flow.