The Provincial Electricity Authority has dropped plans to bury overhead power and communications lines along Soi Buakhao, saying the disruption to the narrow avenue would be too great.
PEA Deputy Manager Phuwadej Chutinantakul chaired a March 27 meeting with utility company executives and city administrators to update them on the progress of the 3.1-billion-baht power-grid project.
Thanu Surachiasuksawith, distribution manager for cable construction and power stations, said all of the utility’s projects should be complete by the end of the year if telephone, internet and cable-television companies uphold their part of the schedule.
The PEA has been upgrading its high-voltage distribution system and burying wires across the city, starting in 2017 with North Road and continuing with Central, South, Sukhumvit and Third Roads, as well as Walking Street.
North Road is finished but Central Road, Third Road between Central Road and Bali Hai Pier, and Sukhumvit Road from Central to South roads are still waiting for communications companies to relocate their lines into PEA’s underground pipes. After that, the utility poles will be removed.
PEA work is still underway on Walking Street and South Road between Sukhumvit and Third roads. New distribution systems are also being installed on Second Road between Central Road and Pratamnak Hill, and South Road between Second and Beach roads.
Thanu said all the PEA contractors are on schedule and all the projects will be completed by year-end if the communications companies also stay on schedule.
Soi Buakhao is a different story, however. Because of the road closures required for power-line burying, the single-lane street connecting South and Central Road would be completely blocked with no detours possible, Thanu said. The narrowness of the street packed with businesses also would make it difficult to use the required heavy machinery.
As a result, the plan to bury wires along Soi Buakhao was canceled. The money allocated for the project will be used for another project on an as-yet-undetermined route, Thanu said.
