Delays Foreseen In Opening Of New Airport

[Maejo Man]

The airport will be open for commercial business on the Kings birthday in December. This has been the official date for at least a year and all in the know have been sworn to secrecy.

We call it "Thai Time". There needs to be 3 months of baggage handling trials (commenced 1 month ago) then when these are concluded, the airport then undergoes 6 months of trials before international certification is granted.

The government is well aware of this and yet they tell their people outright lies time and time again.

A December opening was pegged a while ago as there was certainly not going to be candles for July, but the porkies will keep rolling along.

[IMA_FARANG]

"Repairs", "Refurbishment".........................

For heavens sake this is a brand new building.

What is the man talking about?

Grab the contractor by the nuts and tell him to get the job done right.

Some years ago, when the Shah was in power in Iran, the company I worked for had a contract to provide a communications system for the Iranian government. One of the sub-contractors was found to be cheating the Iranian government by using substandard matierials in constructing some buildings for the system. The Shah had the contractor arrested and beaten by his state police, the Savak. He then told the contractor that he had two weeks to repair the building to meet the contractual standards. To insure that this happened the Shah had the chief of the Savak arrest the entire family of the contractor. At the end of two weeks, if the work wasn't completed (at the contractors expense, of course), the Shah instructed that one member of the contractor's family, personally chosen by the contractor, would be killed by the Savak each week, and the body delivered to the contractor.

The buildings were repaired and inspected by the Iranian government in less than two weeks, at the contractor's expense.

Just a suggestion.

[tjo o tjim]

" This is starting to sound like Manila Terminal 3. That terminal was supposed to open in 2002. It's still not open and last month the ceiling collapsed in the arrivals area.

At least with the present terminals in Bangkok, we don't have to suffer through anything like the agony of Terminal 1 in Manila."

Hey, I worked on that project, too!

In all seriousness, the airport will have a typical Thai building life- that is impossible to avoid. But, the move-in/acceptance is expected to require some significant re-work.

This building sets several records. It is the largest single-structure building in the world, the largest fabric roof, and the largest radiative cooled floor.

When the floor starts to leak in a couple years because they used garden hose (or whatever) instead of purpose-built pipe things will get really interesting.

It isn't a perfect project, but very few airports are considered successes in their first year of operation.

[kuhnk]

Looks like they were using the same contractor as this guy......

http://tinyurl.com/h5hya

[logbags]

I think my favourite building story is when the earthquake hit Turkey a few years back. All the buildings, apartments and other assorted places built by one shonky builder totally collapsed in ruins.

Some of the concrete didn't even have any steel in it. However, a Mosque built hundreds of years ago was still standing. The arial photo was a damning indictment of this shonky builder with all his buildings in ruin and the Mosque standing without damage. I think he fled the scene faster than a Thai truck driver on Yaa Baa.

My second story relates to a German who made the mistake of having the Thai builder purchase the raw materials for the house he had built in Phuket. I have never seen such shonky work in my whole life. The staircase on the outer of the house just fell down. The mortar washed out of the bricks when it rained.

The tiles on the floor and walls fell off. I think the house lasted about 6 months. Yet some <deleted> built a submarine made of concrete in Patong about 25 years ago. He built it behind a bar in Soi Bangla. It was so heavy when it was moved down the beach it carved grooves in Bangla road that were there for years.

This thing was almost indestructable, it sat up the Kalim end of Patong for ages until it was removed. I remember it had to be chipped away as it had so much steel re-inforcement in it.

This person was actually planning to take tours in his sub.

Thais can build quality, its just any public job is a free for all feast in kickbacks and over-inflated quotes. Just another way of robbing really.

[salty]

I think a bid for the Olympic Games would be in order.

[clayirving]

what about this new airport, where ? will it be skytrain or mtr going to bkk ?

When I was there last week, they were building some type of elevated running beside the highway from the airport to Bangkok.

[Maejo Man]

I think a bid for the Olympic Games would be in order.

[bonello]

again and again dec. 2006 I guess 2007

[astral]

"Repairs", "Refurbishment".........................

For heavens sake this is a brand new building.

What is the man talking about?

Grab the contractor by the nuts and tell him to get the job done right.

Some years ago, when the Shah was in power in Iran, the company I worked for had a contract to provide a communications system for the Iranian government. One of the sub-contractors was found to be cheating the Iranian government by using substandard matierials in constructing some buildings for the system. The Shah had the contractor arrested and beaten by his state police, the Savak. He then told the contractor that he had two weeks to repair the building to meet the contractual standards. To insure that this happened the Shah had the chief of the Savak arrest the entire family of the contractor. At the end of two weeks, if the work wasn't completed (at the contractors expense, of course), the Shah instructed that one member of the contractor's family, personally chosen by the contractor, would be killed by the Savak each week, and the body delivered to the contractor.

The buildings were repaired and inspected by the Iranian government in less than two weeks, at the contractor's expense.

Just a suggestion.

There is a lot to be said for a totalitarian government.

[Sing_Sling]

I remember having a chat with a few people on this board a few yeras ago about the new airport as well as Phuket striving to be come the IT hub of SE Asia . . .

The new airport would totally take apart Changi, already the old airport had more arrivals than Changi (Yes, Singapore has a population of 4 million and is NOT a tourist destination), nobody would use Singapore anymore as a hub . . . yaddah yaddah yaddah

The problem is not that the country is useless, not at all. It's the shonky infrastructure that pervades Thai society, government and virtually any- and everything that requires planning.

I did some work on the IT infrastructure of the airport with my previous company years ago, basically supplying Network Monitoring and Network Stress Testing equipment. What started off as a $1/2million sale to a local reseller turned into a $4million end-user price . . . Nice, very nice.

The new airport will have cracks, leakages and worst of all = == = the same people working there, so how can it be better than the current one?

I'm off to KLIA tomorrow (BKK Tue and Wed), which is another white elephant, a homage to great egos and public sector largesse

[sibeymai]

The date when the new airport REALLY becomes operation is not even up to the Thais. It depends on when the relevant international authority certifies the airport as operational. To what purpose are Thai politicians making pronouncements which they know are false ? As far as the government is concerned the airport opened on time when the Thaksin circus landed there last year. Personally, I won't be rushing to use the airport any time soon as there will always be teething problems.

Besides, won't the authorities have to wait until the golf course is finished before it can be opened ?

[Rinrada]

what about this new airport, where ? will it be skytrain or mtr going to bkk ?

Probably Tuk Tuks..thats why they havnt got rid of them yet..

[baboon]

But if the buildngs are so crappy,what about the Air Traffic Control system?Now THAT is worrying.

[NamKAheng]

Update:

Suvarnabhumi Airport to be opened in July as scheduled: Chidchai

BANGKOK: -- Acting caretaker Prime Minister Chidchai Vanasatidya Saturday denied that the new Suvarnabhumi Airport's runways had developed cracks.

He said anyone who said the runways had developed cracks should back it up with fact or else rumours or untrue reports would cause damages to the country.

Chidchai said the new airport would be opened in July as scheduled.

He said he would call a meeting of Cabinet members concerned with the airport construction to a meeting after the weekly Cabinet meeting on Tuesday.

--The Nation 2006-04-29

Like many others, I saw the cracks on Thai TV news when I was in Thailand. This is Thailand, the Big Brother game is still going on, we saw the cracks but TRT people say there is no cracks so there is no cracks.

[Johpa]

what about this new airport, where ? will it be skytrain or mtr going to bkk ?

When I was there last week, they were building some type of elevated running beside the highway from the airport to Bangkok.

Just what are the plans for transporting people from this new airport into the center of Bangkok? What are the estimated travel times to hotels around Silom Rd or the lower Suk tourist ghetto? Without a dedicated elevated roadway connecting to the existing network, are we likely to see two hour or more trips in stop-and-go traffic as one use to experience even in the wee hours between Don Muang and the city center?

I have never felt that Don Muang has exceeded capacity and now tourism has dropped a bit. It seems that the elevated roadway to Don Muang, as well as the last expansion of Don Muang, were completed not that long ago. But I guess most buildings in Thailand are made of such poor quality that after 10 years they tend to be used for lesser, or lower class uses such as hotels being turned into apartments and apartments being turned into dormitories.

[logbags]

You must remember Mega project=Mega graft. You can be sure the transport from the new airport will be controlled lock, stock and barrel by some high ranking Government official.

I remember when I first went to Thailand in 1984. All planes landed at night at around 9.30pm and you were forced to overnight in Bangkok regardless of where you were going. Then you had to run the gauntlet of unofficial taxis and hope you picked one that wasn't driven by a Thai Charles Sobraj.

Many of the taxi drivers were off duty air force officers moonlighting.

Thai recently cancelled its flights directly from Australia to Phuket. Now you must land in Bangkok first. I have avoided Bangkok for over 15 years with this service.

I will now travel Singapore airlines and put up with a stop over there rather than Bangkok. Just how far out is this new airport? Apart from its name I have no idea of where it is.

I agree that Don Muang seems to work ok even if it is very busy. There seemed to be a subtle pushing for a casino from some sections of the Governement under Thaksin. The poor police would be devastated if a legal casino opened.

[tettyan]

what about this new airport, where ? will it be skytrain or mtr going to bkk ?

When I was there last week, they were building some type of elevated running beside the highway from the airport to Bangkok.

Just what are the plans for transporting people from this new airport into the center of Bangkok? What are the estimated travel times to hotels around Silom Rd or the lower Suk tourist ghetto? Without a dedicated elevated roadway connecting to the existing network, are we likely to see two hour or more trips in stop-and-go traffic as one use to experience even in the wee hours between Don Muang and the city center?

An dedicated express rail line is being built to link the airport with Makkasan (transfer to subway) and Phaya Thai (transfer to BTS). The project is officially scheduled to be done by the end of 2007, but this being Thailand, don't expect to be riding it until late 2008 at the earliest. The ride is expected to take less than 20 min and supposed to cost around 200 baht a trip.

More details: 2Bangkok.com - Airport Link News

[Maejo Man]

An dedicated express rail line is being built to link the airport with Makkasan (transfer to subway) and Phaya Thai (transfer to BTS). The project is officially scheduled to be done by the end of 2007, but this being Thailand, don't expect to be riding it until late 2008 at the earliest. The ride is expected to take less than 20 min and supposed to cost around 200 baht a trip.

They have now rescheduled this for 2008 I heard, and it would be fine if you don't have heaps of luggage. I mentioned this in a previous thread, that the airport infrastructure was about two years behind the airport opening. I can see massive complications with transport from the airport, but lets wait and see

[English Noodles]

What a bunch of moaning bastards you lot are, just let them get on with it and you get on with your life. IS IT REALY A BIG DEAL TO YOU???

[svenivan]

again and again dec. 2006 I guess 2007

2007 is too early. The new airport will not open before 2008.

[britmaveric]

Prob serve them better if they opened new airport in low season - give them time to get the kinks out. High season opening - this could be a PR disaster in the making.

[Maejo Man]

What a bunch of moaning bastards you lot are, just let them get on with it and you get on with your life. IS IT REALY A BIG DEAL TO YOU???

No moaning noodles, Just an interested observer, on account that I use the airport rather a lot.

[corkscrew]

I went out to the new airport yesterday and it looked spectacular.

[corkscrew]

what about this new airport, where ? will it be skytrain or mtr going to bkk ?

When I was there last week, they were building some type of elevated running beside the highway from the airport to Bangkok.

Just what are the plans for transporting people from this new airport into the center of Bangkok? What are the estimated travel times to hotels around Silom Rd or the lower Suk tourist ghetto? Without a dedicated elevated roadway connecting to the existing network, are we likely to see two hour or more trips in stop-and-go traffic as one use to experience even in the wee hours between Don Muang and the city center?

I have never felt that Don Muang has exceeded capacity and now tourism has dropped a bit. It seems that the elevated roadway to Don Muang, as well as the last expansion of Don Muang, were completed not that long ago. But I guess most buildings in Thailand are made of such poor quality that after 10 years they tend to be used for lesser, or lower class uses such as hotels being turned into apartments and apartments being turned into dormitories.

Yesterday I drove back from the new airport to the top of Silom road in 28 minutes. It was a Sunday and there was very little traffic and I had the aid of a Garmin Street Pilot that gave me the fastest route (almost 100% via motorways). Getting to the airport was a mess as we relied on a paper map and there were precious few helpful signs pointing us to the airport. That trip took more than an hour.

[sriracha john]

ok now... we have the absolutely, positively, no-questions-asked, beyond-a-shadow-of-a-doubt, definitely, no-more-fooling-around..... final word on the airport's opening, it's August...:

Airport to open in August 'at latest'

The much-delayed Suvarnabhumi airport will open in August at the latest, caretaker Deputy Prime Minister Chidchai Wannasathit said yesterday. ''The government will announce the exact opening date in June,'' he said, after inspecting the project in Samut Prakan's Bang Phli district and chairing the airport's development committee.

Doubts were cast on the planned July opening of the airport by transport officials, including caretaker Deputy Transport Minister Chainant Charoensiri, and airline representatives.

Pol Gen Chidchai said construction work was almost complete, as were systems tests.

''Construction has been over 99% completed and the delayed part is the outsourcing, for example, of security, cleaning and ground services. The government will have all construction work finished in May,'' he said.

Readiness reports of the new Bangkok airport will be submitted to the International Civil Aviation Organisation (Icao) on May 11.

Icao should reach its conclusion on airport readiness within two months and then the Aviation Department will issue an airport operation licence. I recall reading earlier that ICAO certification takes six months, not two?? Has that inevitable Thai spirit bargained them down??

Although damaged roofing fabrics and terrazzo floors have yet to be repaired, Pol Gen Chidchai said the issues were trivial and what mattered was aviation safety.

Yeah.... so what if the roof collapses or people are tripping and falling all over the place? It's not as if a plane fell out of the sky or sumthin'....

Caretaker Transport Minister Pongsak Raktapongpaisal said the opening depended on the readiness of runways, aeronautical radio systems, conveyors and check-in systems, not on whether floors still had cracks.

He admitted there were more than 100 cracks on terrazzo floors, but said the areas could be partitioned off for repairs while the airport operates.

What a lovely sight that'll be.... A brand, spanking-new airport with "Please excuse our mess" construction signs all over the place...

- BP

Edited May 2, 2006 by sriracha john

[Diablo Bob]

"He admitted there were more than 100 cracks on terrazzo floors, but said the areas could be partitioned off for repairs while the airport operates."

Terrazzo ...... well depending on the area of the concrete placement, this is one sh_tpot full of jackhammering, remove and replace and dust.

Well unless you just want the patch to look like a patch. There is no way to match texture or color in a selective remove/replace.

[sriracha john]

Terrazzo ...... well depending on the area of the concrete placement, this is one sh_tpot full of jackhammering , remove and replace and dust .

Awaiting for this notice to appear at the airport:

"Proper construction respirators and hearing protection will be complimentarily dispensed to arriving and departing passengers for their use while transiting through the ongoing construction zones."

[Maejo Man]

ok now... we have the absolutely, positively, no-questions-asked, beyond-a-shadow-of-a-doubt, definitely, no-more-fooling-around..... final word on the airport's opening, it's August...:

Airport to open in August 'at latest'

Although damaged roofing fabrics and terrazzo floors have yet to be repaired, Pol Gen Chidchai said the issues were trivial and what mattered was aviation safety.

Damaged roofing fabrics are trivial issues?

They are obviously not "communicating" very well

It will take at least seven months to give the finishing touches to the airport, said Gen Chainant

In addition, the specialised heavy-duty canvas used to cover the roof needed repairing and it would take about seven months, he said.

[stumonster]

In addition, the specialised heavy-duty canvas used to cover the roof needed repairing and it would take about seven months, he said.

a few m150 and chang banners will suffice in the meantime