The contractor who built a 6-million-baht road in Khet Udomsak that began falling apart a month after it opened insists that faulty design specifications and standing water – not corruption – are to blame for the street’s poor condition.
Chatchai Pongdee, lead contractor for Permanent Construction Co., said his company has begun repairs on Sukhumvit Soi 41, better known as Soi Khao Petch, in the Sattahip sub-district. Work was scheduled to be completed by the middle of the month.
Chatchai Pongdee, lead contractor for Permanent Construction Co., says it’s not his fault the 6-million-baht road in Khet Udomsak he built began falling apart a month after it opened.
Residents, led by community leader Nathachai Sangsri, protested May 8 over the sorry state of the street, which underwent reconstruction from Oct. 2 to Jan. 29 on a 5.97 million baht contract.
Three kilometers long and five meters wide, the road began to collapse and develop huge holes just a month after the contractor got paid, leading to suspicions of impropriety.
Villagers repeatedly filled in the holes with dirt, but the stop-gap measure did not work and residents demanded that the entire street be dug up and resurfaced by the contractor who did the faulty work.
Chatchai said that Soi Khao Petch is a perennial basin for storm runoff from surrounding hills. Shortly after the road was turned over to Khet Udomsak, Sattahip District was ravaged by several storms in a row, causing large quantities of water to flood the street and wash away the soil under the surface.
He blamed the district for giving him a faulty design specification that did not take into account flash flooding and standing water.
Despite appearances that his company took 6 million baht of public money and delivered a faulty project, he insisted that was not the case and there was no corruption involved in the deal. He said he can provide full transparency in his dealings with the sub-district for those who have any doubts.
