Published on January 18, 2006

The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration has set up a mechanism whereby all complaints over unfair competition from bidders on public projects will be forwarded directly to the Bangkok governor.

BMA spokesman Phutthiphong Punnakan said yesterday the mechanism is meant to ensure that Bangkok Governor Apirak Kosayodhin and BMA executives do not miss any documents related to large projects which are susceptible to contract rigging or subsequent complaints over corrupt practices.

He said written complaints have been discovered from three bidders who lost out in the bidding process for 16 road-construction projects that are the subject of a criminal investigation by the Department of Special Investigation (DSI).

The documents were not lost, as initially thought. One of them was processed by the BMA’s Public Works Department and has yet to be forwarded to BMA management. Two others were sent to City Clerk Natthanon Thaweesin and a deputy governor after the DSI began its investigation.

Apirak countered criticism of the BMA’s slow response to the bidders’ grievances prior to the DSI’s involvement, saying he was unaware of the complaints because he had not received the documents.

The new mechanism also requires the heads of all BMA departments to keep management apprised of their activities related to large projects and their progress in acting on complaints from bidders.

Responding to the Thai Rak Thai Party’s call for the appointment of widely respected Auditor-General Jaruvan Maintaka to the BMA panel investigating the 16 projects, the spokesman asked for the public’s trust in the current panel to complete its task by the end of this week.

Deputy City Clerk Ratthaphol Meethanathaworn, who chairs the panel, said findings would be handed to Apirak tomorrow morning. The governor will later make an official announcement about the panel’s findings.

Meanwhile, a member of the Bangkok City Council said he would soon submit a petition over the approved purchase of laundry machines for the BMA’s Department of Medical Services, which he said were much more expensive than market prices.

Nawarat Yoobamrung, an independent councillor taking part in an investigation led by Thai Rak Thai councillor Aphinya Suthornsathit, said the three machines plus installation costs came to Bt30.7 million, while they could have been bought and installed for Bt17.08 million.

He said a working panel appointed by the department only had three members, all of whom represented the department. “I see that this [situation] is prone to rigging,” he said.

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