Nasa Disco Holding Up The Airport Rail Link

[pautai]

Disco delay for the fast train

Published on February 12, 2005

The State Railway of Thailand has stumbled on a major roadblock to clearing a corridor for the Makkasan-Suvarnabhumi high-speed train, which could cause a construction delay and result in financial damage to the state enterprise.

The SRT revealed yesterday that the planned route is obstructed by the once-popular Nasa discotheque. The law requires any permanent structure to be located at least 40 metres from the rails, but the building is as close as seven metres.

“This is a result of a ground-lease renewal in 2002, in which some new conditions were written in favour of the lessee,” said Sanya Sathirabut, the SRT board member in charge of the project.

Under the construction contract with a consortium led by Sino-Thai Engineering and Construction Plc, the SRT has to clear the land for the railway and turn it over to the contractors by May 19, or else risk paying compensation for any delay.

The airport link is one of the mass-transit projects the government wants to expedite and open by 2006 so it can relieve traffic moving from inner Bangkok to Suvarnabhumi Airport.

Sanya has held talks with the Nasa premise occupant, but with no success.

The disco, near the Klong Ton-Ramkhamhaeng intersection, was developed by SDT Co Ltd. Its lease expired in 2002 and was taken up by Excalibur Park Co Ltd. The renewed contract was signed by SRT asset management chief Yonlachai Khemangkorn on behalf of then SRT governor Sarawut Thammasiri. Excalibur extended the building, encroaching on the railroad right-of-way.

In its ground leases, the SRT reserves the right to cancel agreements or demand demolition without having to pay compensation, Sanya said. However, annexed to this lease was a clause that if the SRT wanted the land back and had to remove the improvements on it, Excalibur could demand compensation of up to Bt100 million.

“That shows unscrupulous intent and the required amount is enormous, given that under the 33-year lease, Excalibur pays [only] Bt637,509 in rent, which increases by 5 per cent every five years,” Sanya said.

Next week Sanya will meet with Excalibur again. The SRT board will also meet next week to consider the problem, as well as the proposal to set up a committee to investigate all officials involved with the lease renewal.

“If anybody is found guilty, they will be punished according to criminal and civil laws,” Sanya said.

The SRT does not know when the negotiations might be completed, or at what cost.

Two options are under consideration. One is to revise the construction plan to move the tracks away from the building, but this could add Bt300 million to the cost.

The other is for the SRT to raze the structure and deal with the compensation issue later. “But we’ll choose this option only if we’re sure that we won’t have to pay a single baht for it,” Sanya said.

Watcharapong Thongrung

The Nation

[pautai]

There is another option ! send in Chuwit and his thugs for a midnight smash raid !

[Jack Jones]

For a second there, I read NANA and not NASA

[ProfessorFart]

Blimey theres a blast from the past!!!

I never knew it was still going!

[JemJem]

The very first disco that I had gone to in Thailand (back in the late 80's). Ahhh....good old days.

Cheers,

Jem

[ovenman]

There is another option ! send in Chuwit and his thugs for a midnight smash raid !

Now that the election is over and Chuwit is not campaigning for anything, that sledgehammer is sitting idle. May as well put it to use...

[dr_Pat_Pong]

There is another option ! send in Chuwit and his thugs for a midnight smash raid !

Now that the election is over and Chuwit is not campaigning for anything, that sledgehammer is sitting idle. May as well put it to use...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

He's got nothing else on until next years Senate elections

[Erwin1011]

Who owns Excalibur Park ? That could tell us something

[qwertyuiop]

There is another option ! send in Chuwit and his thugs for a midnight smash raid !

Now that the election is over and Chuwit is not campaigning for anything, that sledgehammer is sitting idle. May as well put it to use...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Well it is certainly not being used to build Chuwit Park, which has long been promised.

[PvtDick]

I know who was rumored to "own" NASA at the beginning (someone who cannot be discussed here) ... but don't know if the current ownership includes him or not.

[Diggerbasher]

The building is too close to the tracks,bulldoze it.

[Sphere]

Just add a station "Nasa" and make it compulsory for travelers to stop there on the way to and from the airport.

[The_Moog]

In UK we have ' Compulsory Purchase' Laws

That allows Government to buy land so they can build roads and other infrastructure- and you don't get one person holding-out and blackmailing everyone- like this.

In Thailand, their version of this Law doesn't work very effectively. (Perhaps a good thing - can you imagine the possible abuses of it !!)

Thats why Sukhumvit Road traffic is such a problem - really, in a town planning sense, it should be a couple of lanes wider - but acquiring the land is well-night impossible !!

[george]

Disco owner hands over needed land

BANGKOK: -- The owner of a disused discotheque will hand back some of the land so it can be used for the high speed rail link planned between Bangkok and the new international airport.

The agreement between the State Railway of Thailand (SRT) and Excalibur Park Co clears a major obstacle to construction of the Airport Link between Makassan and Suvarnabhumi Airport in Samut Prakan.

SRT board member Sanya Sathirabutr said two buildings of the disused Nasa discotheque, beside the railway tracks in Klong Tan area, would be demolished.

The SRT and the company would each employ their own evaluators to work out the compensation. Agreement was expected in about a month.

To be demolished are the discotheque building and its backyard storage building. They cover 4,017.5 square metres of the total 9,178-square-metre rented plot.

The original 30-year lease started on Dec 30, 1985, and is due to expire on Dec 29, 2015.

Mr Sanya said the two buildings were built too close to the tracks due to favours given by some SRT officials who would be prosecuted later.

The irregularities had been ignored long enough to deprive the SRT of the right to take any legal action against the lessee and to force the SRT to compensate the company.

The 28km Airport Link is expected to be completed in three years. The capital's new airport is to open on Sept 29.

--The Post 2004-02-23

[ProfessorFart]

When did it close? It always seemed like it would be there forever! It was also the first disco I went to in Bangkok!! Happy days indeed!