Up In The Air

[mark lamai]

From now on, planes kept waiting in the air would not have to fly all the way to U Tapao, he said. He had arranged for them to fly into Don Muang airport to refuel and wait for a landing slot.

AoT could not yet determine how long it would take since a thorough examination of the cracks is needed, he said. But he suggested that it is expected to take several months or at least one year for the repairs.

Cost of the repairs will be between 300 million and 3 billion baht.

................................

further comment unnecccessary

[Mid]

further comment unnecccessary

BS , The entire country should be outraged .......................

[mark lamai]

A director of the Airports of Thailand Plc said the massive corruption in the construction of the Suvarnabhumi International Airport had embarrassed the country in the eyes of foreign engineers.

The director, Tortrakul Yommanak who is investigating corruption and problems at the new airport, was speaking during the Siam This Morning programme broadcast on Channel 5 at 6:15 am Friday.

Interviewed by Nation Group editor Thepchai Yong, Tortrakul said he felt very embarrassed when talking about the issue with foreign engineers.

He said the massive corruption was definitely known to people or firms involved during the design or construction but no one talked about it.

------------------------------------------

unusually candid admission,

its embarrassing?

i would have thought it was criminal and they should be in gaol.

[londonthai]

known to people or firms involved during the design or construction but no one talked about it.

you don't talk about them - you just do it.

instead of refuelling waiting airplanes at don muang maybe simpler to offboard there - it's a lot of fuel needed to take off with a plane full of cargo

[Who, me ?]

known to people or firms involved during the design or construction but no one talked about it.

you don't talk about them - you just do it.

instead of refuelling waiting airplanes at don muang maybe simpler to offboard there - it's a lot of fuel needed to take off with a plane full of cargo

let alone the ridiculous short distance......

better bring the aircrafts by road

[britmaveric]

Time to suck it up, and deal with the situation. Close the new airport and bloody fix it, before some disaster occurs!!!!

[sjaak327]

Yep, close it down completely, admit defeat and move everything back to Don Muang. Then when all the problems are fixed do a grand opening of Suvarnabhumi.

But of course that's not going to happen, think of the loss of face. Having said that, major loss of face already occured...

[mark lamai]

seems that the Nation is being quite honest,

and seems like the Bangkok Post is trying to ignore it all.

excerpts from article today, refreshing in its honesty and a language lesson...

-------------------------------------

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2007/01/26...on_30025141.php

This is in line with the saying chao cham yen cham

('I just wash one dish in the morning and another dish in the evening'),

which describes motionless people who are very economical with their

energy and who rarely set their sights on getting anything done.

It all goes back to the time when politicians, civil servants and contractors

colluded to fill in the land at Suvarnabhumi in a suk ao phao kin

('I'll eat it regardless of whether it's cooked or burnt') way.

We happened to have dishonest politicians, civil servants and contractors

responsible for this, who went about their jobs in a manner that was suk ao phao kin.

Suk ao phao kin means to do things sloppily or recklessly.

This suk ao phao kin behaviour is another prominent Thai trait.

The roof of the terminal also leaks. You might substitute suk ao phao kin

when referring to this approach to construction and call it loop na pa jamook

('I just need to stroke my face and patch up the nose then I can get away with it').

The contractors had to pay bia bai rai thang

('I have to pay money under the table all the way').

While the Thaksin government was in power, politicians adopted

a nam khuen hai reep tak ('I must fetch the water while the tide is high') approach

Thaksin has gone, all the dirty tricks that occurred while the airport was

built have become evident. The saying nam lot tor phut

('when the tide goes down, all the stumps show up') accurately

haste to open Suvarnabhumi was an act of phak chi roi na

('topping my face with coriander just to get a way with it').

As a result, we have an airport that is beautiful from the outside,

but inside it is hollow. This is equivalent to khang nok sook sai khangnai pen kluang

('I look beautiful from the outside, but don't ever kiss me!')

[LtLOS]

seems that the Nation is being quite honest,

and seems like the Bangkok Post is trying to ignore it all.

Quit reading the Post during the 1991 coup, never went back.

Probably the only good outcome of this airport debacle will be some understanding outside Thailand of how corrupt the Thaksin regime became....It's all on his watch with his cronies in charge.