Bali Hai office building a 25-million-baht white elephant

PATTAYA:--Critics of Pattaya’s lavish 2017 spending on the redevelopment of Bali Hai Pier predicted an office building and conference center the navy insisted it needed would become a white elephant.

 

They were right.

 

More than 25 million baht was spent on the Bali Hai Service Center, a facility the military government said was needed to impress foreign dignitaries. It was finished on time for the November 2017 show – and was never used.

 

It still hasn’t been. Today, the two-wing complex – with offices and a conference center on the left and ticket office, storage room, more offices and public restrooms on the right – sits empty, still in new condition.

 

The building was part of nearly 200 million baht in projects that Pattaya and the military spent on the pier, including 97 million baht on landscaping. At an early public hearing, the need for the building was questioned, with critics saying the pier already had adequate office space to manage boat traffic and pier administration.

 

Read more: http://www.pattayamail.com/news/bali-hai-office-building-25-million-baht-white-elephant-240991

 

-- © Copyright Pattaya Mail 2019-01-11

Ah sounds like the old "need a project to skim' routine which is commonplace in Thailand.

Any chance those that gave the go ahead for this project will hold their hands up and say it was a mistake....

They should've spent more on parking instead of that empty office. We were charged 150 baht for parking at a vacant lot nearby last new years eve

 

 

the building is a great success. 20-30% of 25 million

3 hours ago, petermik said:

Any chance those that gave the go ahead for this project will hold their hands up and say it was a mistake....

Nah, too busy holding on to the steering wheels of their new Merc's!

Who doesn’t love that park.

Gotta love this place!!!  So sleazy....

 

Turn it into a pineapple lollipop emporium.

should to be used as a base of operations for their aircraft carrier and coming subs. they are white elephants as well.

With a view of the  500 million baht sand bag beach

Another white elephant is the immigration office at Ban Pakkad border. Massive and appears unused

Bali Hai seems to be a favourite for white elephants . I seem to remember there was another one in the

area but  I forget the name !

Gotta use the budget or we won't get it next year.......

32 minutes ago, ross163103 said:

Gotta use the budget or we won't get it next year.......

I worked for the government for a few years, exactly what my boss used to tell me.. crazy.

The author of this article just doesn't understand Thailand. A white elephant is lucky. No reason to worry or be concerned. Thailand will build all the white elephants it can. 

13 hours ago, guest879 said:

should to be used as a base of operations for their aircraft carrier and coming subs. they are white elephants as well.

It's just plain "carrier" when there are no aircraft. There were a lot of Farang that got sucked in with the greens anti-corruption rhetoric. Turns out those of us who predicted the biggest mafia yet had it right.

5 hours ago, Ulic said:

The author of this article just doesn't understand Thailand. A white elephant is lucky. No reason to worry or be concerned. Thailand will build all the white elephants it can. 

I thought there was a story of a Thai King who gave some official a white elephant because he wasn't so pleased with the guy.  Obviously a Royal gift, the fellow had to feed and house the elephant.  Maybe not.

16 hours ago, krystian said:

They should've spent more on parking instead of that empty office. We were charged 150 baht for parking at a vacant lot nearby last new years eve

 

 

Central parking is at a premium. The problem is traffic and parked vehicles all over the place. A lot a little further out and transportation into the city is what is needed.