Land inspector recommends opening of Sam Kong Underpass to be postponed, prioritize safety

[rooster59]

Land inspector recommends opening of Sam Kong Underpass to be postponed, prioritize safety

Darawan Naknakhon

From left: Rakkechai, Burana and Dep Gov Kajornkiet inspect the tunnel.

PHUKET: A land inspector from the Thailand Omsbudman Office has recommended for the opening of the Sam Kong Underpass to be postponed, citing safety concerns that the promised April 9 opening would be too rushed.

The Highways Department has repeatedly assured that the underpass would be ready for traffic by April 9, in time for Songkran.

However, after an inspection of the site at the Sam Kong junction yesterday (April 1) – along route 402, the tunnel of which starts at kilometre number 5+045.000, and emerges at km 6+850.000 – land inspector Burana Tapondul and his secretary Rakkecha Chaechai yesterday (April 1) recommended to Phuket Vice Governor Kajornkiet Rakpanitmanee that the opening should be pushed back until the end of April, if not by May.

Full story: http://www.thephuketnews.com/land-inspector-recommends-opening-of-sam-kong-underpass-to-be-postponed-prioritize-safety-56880.php

-- Phuket News 2016-04-02

[steelepulse]

I'm shocked and speechless. Good thing for those that said it would be open on April 9th is they can save face now by pointing the finger at the land inspector.

[Pomthai]

[LivinginKata]

What a surprise .... NOT .... just saving face

[Chang_paarp]

I am also shocked! The word safety was used to override a face issue.

[bearpolar]

The wall that fell down, is still bent. The road on top of that part is still bent and not done. Nobody dares driving on it. The side lanes in front of index are almost done but the drains are 20cm too high and there seems to be a problem with the pippes running through the middle grass area between those 2 streets.

The patong turn drains are no where near completition

There's a maximum of 5-8 workers at any hour. The big boss is going to pulll a runner after songkran.

[Valentine]

At least common sense prevails. They had that problem wall braced with heavy steel for a while but then it disappeared without any visible, proper repairs apart from patching it up top. This underpass is a fiasco & a disgrace & the Chalong one looks to be heading the same way after 6 months & so little progress compared to the one at the end of the bypass where massive amounts of men, machinery & materials are in place.

What about either side of the road between Big C & Lotus which has not been completed after more than 1 year although I think the same company doing the underpass is responsible which explains a lot.

[Inepto Cracy]

This underpass was only built to give the big handouts to the high and mighty. It was a no show from the word go. Now the face saving starts, when the arse showing rears it's ugly head. Dumb engineers who thought they could get away with building a latrine in a rice paddy. The water table is at about 3 feet idiots???

[fiddlehead]

Another year.
Maybe.

[Bob12345]

Wonder how this will impact the fines that the construction company needs to pay for every day they finish the project late.

Let me guess, there are several clauses in the contract like:

- the tunnel should be open for date xx, without mentioning when it should be done (let one guy on a motorsaai drive through it and the clock stops ticking, now you can work a few more years to complete the project without paying fines)

- if some authority delays the opening no fines have to be paid, without mentioning that this only goes if the cause of the delays are not in the control of the contractor (if they build a shoddy tunnel, they should still pay for every day late till the tunnel is save).

And my ass that the tunnel would have been done in 9 days from now. Go have a look and you can see that it is nowhere close to completion.

Maybe the tunnel at the start of bypass road will be done before this one is in full operation.

[sanukjim]

Several months ago when the constructor swore that he would be on time I stated that it could only be done in that time period with faulty construction and week material..Of course to save face (and money) he had to open on time,Kind of like Thaksin's Airport.

[bluebluewater]

Wow - the design and actual construction along with the visible faults are so bad that even the Thai inspectors could not let it pass!

[stvette2002]

Have to wait for the new submarines from China.

[Somtamnication]

The wall that fell down, is still bent. The road on top of that part is still bent and not done. Nobody dares driving on it. The side lanes in front of index are almost done but the drains are 20cm too high and there seems to be a problem with the pippes running through the middle grass area between those 2 streets.

The whole country is bent. What are you talking about!