Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said today that his government is uncomfortable with allowing Italian-Thai Development Plc (ITD) to continue implementing the Thai-Chinese high-speed rail project or the Rama II–Samut Sakhon elevated expressway after two fatal crane accidents within 24 hours.
He suggested that the relevant agencies should explore ways to revoke ITD’s contracts, even though the company has completed about 85% of the construction work, and appoint a new contractor or contractors to complete the remaining 15%.
The prime minister made the remarks after chairing a meeting this afternoon with the heads of the Transport and Finance ministries, the Comptroller General’s Department, the Office of the Attorney-General and the Council of State.
The meeting was called at short notice to discuss construction safety standards and ways of dealing with contractors undertaking government infrastructure projects who repeatedly fail to meet safety requirements, resulting in death and injury.
Speaking to the media after the meeting, the prime minister noted that, in addition to the two fatal accidents yesterday and today, the construction company in question has also been blamed for similar incidents over the past ten months.
He stressed that someone must be held accountable for the two fatal crane accidents, adding that the government is accountable to the public in its role as a service provider.
As such, the government must seek compensation for the damage caused by the contractor and take action to ensure that similar accidents do not occur in the future.
The prime minister also questioned why ITD has not been blacklisted, noting that the company and its Chinese partner, China Railway Engineering Corp (CREC), were responsible for the construction of the 30-storey State Audit Office building.
The building collapsed after being hit by tremors from the devastating earthquake in Myanmar on March 28, killing about 90 people, mostly construction workers, and injuring many others.
