The city governor was speaking after a preliminary assessment of the buildings' condition yesterday, conducted jointly by the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration, the Engineering Institute of Thailand and the National Housing Authority.

The finding was that the buildings could still be restored, Apirak said, contrary to claims by the government that the condition of some of them meant they would have to be demolished.

Citing a 2003 survey of the estate by the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT), caretaker Social Development and Human Security Minister Watana Muangsook said last week that many buildings in the ageing low-cost housing project needed to be demolished and replaced.

The AIT reported that more than half of the estate's 87 blocks of flats were in poor condition and required structural repairs to ensure safety.

Watana on Friday proposed a Bt30-billion private-sector investment to raze the estate and construct a new one.

However, on Saturday he said he would back a plan to restore the tenements near central Bangkok instead of demolishing them.

In more good news for the estate's 40,000-plus residents, Apirak said yesterday not all of them would have to move out their buildings while the repairs were being done.

Even if the estate does need to be redeveloped at some time in the future, the residents would be consulted before any plans are made, Apirak said.

"But not in the near future, for sure," he added.