Work to bring overhead ugly cables underground starts in Bangkok

[SteveSamui6262]

What about all the power transformers?  The internet amplifiers?  Where are they going to go?There is NO WAY these project(s) are going to succeed.  What we have here is another giant masquerade!  Contractors will profit and graft will prevail.  Even State of the Art underground power grids in the U.S. experience major malfunctions, sometimes explosive (google it) during both rainy & hot seasons.   This is a receipe for mass electrocutions during the wet season here.  

 

F***en **it, the U.S. uses subconcrete-inforced, air-rated, water resistant vaults to contain high voltage lines & equipment in all urban and suburban areas.  As I said, even when constructed and properly maintained, there are occassional occurrences of fires & explosions which have caused some deaths.  Laying some PVC Pipe 3-5 feet under the sidewalk containing high voltage lines.  Yea, this is yet another great, high I.Q. idea! 

[SteveSamui6262]

Just look at the photo of the overhead cables and then picture them being dropped a few feet deep into the ground encased in what will very likely turnout to be substandard pcv tubing.  Rats will be chewing on any exposed pcv tubing compromising its limited insulating value.

 

Is there anyone in this country with a brain?

[givenall]

5 hours ago, Laughing Gravy said:

Go on I will be the first to comment. Great news. Long overdue in my opinion. I hope that this will stop the TV and internet going off when it rains. next I do hope that the whole of Bangkok is completed and not just one road before I die. I do expect to live another 50 years so I am being optimistic.

Let's have contest for the ugliest overhead wire in our neighborhood. Send pics. This may expedite the process too since looks pretty bad   

[anotheruser]

You gotta start somewhere. I wish them well, there are many things to hate on in life but this isn't one of them. 

[Sphere]

1 hour ago, Jim walker said:

long overdue now Spiderman can come and visit Bangkok  

 

The last time he came to rescue someone in Bangkok, this is what happened......

[hugocnx]

5 hours ago, Laughing Gravy said:

Go on I will be the first to comment. Great news. Long overdue in my opinion. I hope that this will stop the TV and internet going off when it rains. next I do hope that the whole of Bangkok is completed and not just one road before I die. I do expect to live another 50 years so I am being optimistic.

Nah...same like Chiang Mai. Tapei Road cleaned up from cables. Rest will follow in due time/never?

[smew]

Mark my words : will have, on the average of 5 deadly electrequtions per month with 20 other electrical related injuries

[seancbk]

My friends who live in Phuket have been posting pictures of the cables being taken down in Phuket and put underground this past week.

 

[Bantex]

5 hours ago, Laughing Gravy said:

Go on I will be the first to comment. Great news. Long overdue in my opinion. I hope that this will stop the TV and internet going off when it rains. next I do hope that the whole of Bangkok is completed and not just one road before I die. I do expect to live another 50 years so I am being optimistic.

The cable tunnels will act as drainage and just be permently full of water, you're TV & Internet will always be off.

[Keesters]

1 hour ago, Saladin said:

When they have finished with Bangkok could they please come to Chiang Mai?

 

Pattaya got in before you. See post 24.

 

Please wait in the queue.

 

[elgordo38]

6 hours ago, Laughing Gravy said:

Go on I will be the first to comment. Great news. Long overdue in my opinion. I hope that this will stop the TV and internet going off when it rains. next I do hope that the whole of Bangkok is completed and not just one road before I die. I do expect to live another 50 years so I am being optimistic.

I guess it figures that Bangkok would be first its a distinctive pattern in most things here. I guess they will hit Chiang Mai in another 200 years. I hope the world lasts that long. I definitely will not care. 

[Keesters]

When my parents house was built 65 years ago in UK everything was put underground. Electricity, telephone and later internet cable and optical fibre. This is nothing new, it has just taken Thailand a long time to catch up.

 

 

Edited September 5, 2016 by Keesters

[ChrisY1]

I've done a lot of civil engineering work in my past.....but never would I ever consider overseeing this mess..:))

[eastendanto]

I think I'll ring up ole Billy Gates and ask him to make a few more comments about Thailand's antiquated infrastructure...... seems his words carry weight with this government ... never seem them move so fast on public/private services because a Tech giant mentioned it to the world.... 

[swerver]

5 hours ago, Pdaz said:

Dig hole, throw in the cable, cover with dirt, tarmac over. How hard can it be ?  Thais have been digging holes and planting things for hundreds of years 

What could possibly go wrong ?

 

The same that does go wrong all over Thailand when they dig a trench to lay an electric cable or water pipe in. They bypass putting in a layer of soft sand as a bed for the cable or pipe and to cover it with a layer of soft sand so no stones, rocks or other hard pieces can damage the cable or pipe. After all that they can put back whatever they dug out to make the trench.

Simple isn't, but time consuming, and that is were Thais take the shortcut and forget about the soft sand. And if it was figured in the total cost of the job, well, we all know how that goes, this is Thailand, it disappears in someone's pocket.

As for tunnels, the ones I know the rain fills them and that is were the rainwater stays because there is no provision for drainage.

LOL in LOS

[Deepinthailand]

Really who cares will only ever be Bangkok so as I never go to the dump I'll never see it. Waste of good money

[gemguy]

Good idea in some respects...but not a good idea here in Thailand.

I see lots of problems..

[SteveSamui6262]

Bury them, don't bury them.  Who cares?  Everyone here is only wants to enjoy the temples, shopping malls and city trains.

[soalbundy]

putting lipstick on a pig

[Redline]

9 hours ago, scorecard said:

 

I add, all properly / exactly documented, including types / ratings whatever of cables used (and today easy to add photos) and with easy access to these documents etc., by all utility agencies, etc.

 

And with laws / regulations which require all utility agencies to check for underground pipes / wires etc., before any work undertaken.

That would be amazing!  I'm about to wet my pats.  How will they add new services?

[Redline]

4 hours ago, eastendanto said:

I think I'll ring up ole Billy Gates and ask him to make a few more comments about Thailand's antiquated infrastructure...... seems his words carry weight with this government ... never seem them move so fast on public/private services because a Tech giant mentioned it to the world.... 

Too bad it doesn't work in the USA.  People have been talking about crumbling infrastructure for the past 30+ years.

Edited September 5, 2016 by Redline

[callaway]

8 hours ago, andyww said:

Better to leave them as they are. Far easier to maintain without constantly digging up the road as in other cities and less susceptible to flooding.

 

If they want to beautify the city start with cleaning up all the graffiti.

And encouraging people to purchase a bit of paint and high pressure washer. Pressure wash concrete facade of black mold and then some paint. Buildings seem to get painted when built then never touched again. Thais in the village look at me strange when the front wall got painted again after 5 years. I guess they think it is wasting money because no idea of maintenance.

[rickudon]

Sounds good at first, but i was wondering, how are they going to distribute the power to all the homes/businesses? Underground junction boxes? Do they make genuine water tight ones here? And the sidewalks are honeycombed with drainage channels or just F++++ng big holes in the cracked concrete. Every time some workmen come to do some repairs and dig, expect cables to be damaged - happens often enough in the UK even with all the best modern safety practices. 

 

In our village someone is getting a new connection every week, if they had to dig the road up every time, it would be a nightmare (plus many more multiple hour outages). Currently, faults are usually fixed in under 2 hours. Underground is sensible for a mature, stable infrastructure with high quality maintenance - some how that doesn't sound like Thailand.

[William C F Pierce]

Thais certainly know how to get their priorities wrong. I would have thought getting a dual water system for separate sewage and rain water, with sewers off. Something that was first proposed by Yinluck Shinawatra during the Bangkok floods for future water management. Electric cables I think could wait. Smelling the SH*T of Bangkok must be a great tourist attraction and a wonderful enhancement for Thai health.

[lvr181]

14 hours ago, sahibji said:

wish it was this simple. do not forget that along the there will be water pipes, traffic signalling equipment, gas pipes amongst other. to co=ordinate all these will be a mammoth task, trust me.

 

Other cities throughout the world have done it. Are you suggesting that Thai authorities do not have the expertise or cannot bring in the expertise? 

[Assurancetourix]

16 hours ago, ChrisY1 said:

I've done a lot of civil engineering work in my past.....but never would I ever consider overseeing this mess..:))

 

 

In Isan they began also ;

Road 22 - Nong Mek between Sawang Daen Din and Udon Thani ;

shot yesterday , monday 5 of september 2016 ;

They didn't dig the ground, only concrete on the wires in the ground ..

 

[Thainess]

Those spaghettified overhead cables have a certain beauty about them. They are like convoluted, intricate, fascinating modern art or sculptural installations all over the city. They stand as a brilliant metaphor for the complexity and interconnectedness of modern life in the 21st century. Bangkok: Hub of Street Art and Sculpture

[Thainess]

13 hours ago, Redline said:

Too bad it doesn't work in the USA.  People have been talking about crumbling infrastructure for the past 30+ years.

 

That's because 54% of the US annual federal discretionary budget is spent on the military (2016 figure, look it up on Google). The US is no doubt the most warmongering country in the history of the world, that for some reason seems to believe it's the world's moral police force and feels entitled to bomb or invade any country it pleases around the world. 54% of your budget blown on the military: that's simply insane! No wonder the rest of your country is crumbling!

[bruceamstutz]

On ‎9‎/‎4‎/‎2016 at 9:23 PM, Laughing Gravy said:

Go on I will be the first to comment. Great news. Long overdue in my opinion. I hope that this will stop the TV and internet going off when it rains. next I do hope that the whole of Bangkok is completed and not just one road before I die. I do expect to live another 50 years so I am being optimistic.

 

Don't know if this will work...Other Asian countries use the wires to get back and for to work when it floods....

[thaibeachlovers]

21 hours ago, sahibji said:

wish it was this simple. do not forget that along the there will be water pipes, traffic signalling equipment, gas pipes amongst other. to co=ordinate all these will be a mammoth task, trust me.

Perhaps you missed it, but he was being sarcastic. There is everything to go wrong.

 

Does this mean the end of all overhead wires- I doubt it. Every time a new phone wire is needed does anyone think they'll put it underground, or just nail it to the shopfronts?