BANGKOK, 24 May 2013 The Department of Special Investigation asserts it is ready to investigate the case of uninhabited knock-down houses sprouting up in Chaiyaphum province due to the belief that compensation can be claimed from the state, as the houses are built on areas that will be expropriated to make way for a water reservoir.
Chaiyaphum Governor Phonsak Chiaranai has warned locals against buying the cheaply-built structures in hope of claiming land expropriation compensation, saying that the building of such houses may be interpreted as attempts to defraud the state. Despite the warning, construction materials and equipment continued to be moved into the construction sites and construction activity continued on Thursday. Most of the vehicles found on the construction sites had license plates registered in provinces aside from Chaiyaphum.
The land on which the houses are being built has been marked as plots that will be expropriated to make way for the building of reservoirs for Prongkhunphet and Yangnadi dams.
The local police disclosed that they are still waiting for the Irrigation Department office in Chaiyaphum to express its intention to file a case.
Thanin Prempri, director of the Department of Special Investigation’s corruption suppression center, said that the DSI will proceed on the case right away if the Chaiyaphum provincial administration forwards it to the department.
