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Thaksin To Camp At Airport Construction Site


george

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Thai prime minister to camp at airport construction site to spur construction

BANGKOK: -- Thailand's prime minister will spend a night in a tent at the construction site of Bangkok's new international airport to pressure contractors who have fallen behind schedule with the project, his spokesman said Tuesday.

Several Cabinet members will join Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra for his Sept. 27 overnight camping trip at the Suvarnabhumi airport site, about 25 kilometers (16 miles) east of the capital, government spokesman Jakrapob Penkair said.

The 125 billion baht (US$3 billion; euro 2.47 billion) Suvarnabhumi Airport was scheduled to open in September next year. Construction reportedly fell behind schedule by more than four months a year ago, and Jakrapob said it was still lagging.

Thaksin is staging the camp-out "to push for quicker progress and to send the signal to contractors and international airlines that Thailand is serious about making Suvarnabhumi the hub of air travel in the region," Jakrapob said.

The Cabinet will conduct its weekly meeting at the site the following morning, he said.

Representatives from the contractors will join the camping group, Jakrapob said.

Thaksin has made frequent inspection trips to the construction site, and his government in recent months has issued public warnings to the contractors to accelerate their work or face penalties, including being barred from future government contracts.

--AP 2004-09-15

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Spoke with a primary contractor the other day about the new airport and all this fuss about opening in September. He had a hardy laugh and proceded to inform me that support equipment like radar towers and baggage handling is not even designed yet. The primary hang up is difficulties with the government making decisions and getting approvals, if you think getting a visa or land deed is bad, try winning and working a technical contract with the powers in charge. IF the designs were done and the government approved them, we would be about two years away from operations.

Want to bet Thaksin is going to nap in his new airbus on the runway????

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To answer the question above, the new airport is located east of town, just outside the Outer Ring road, off the Bangkok-Chonburi Expressway.

No, it appears to be no further than Don Muang from central Bangkok. I visited the other day (on a Sunday) and it took me exactly twenty minutes to reach it from the beginning of Sukhumvit Road.

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Spoke with a primary contractor the other day about the new airport and all this fuss about opening in September. He had a hardy laugh and proceded to inform me that support equipment like radar towers and baggage handling is not even designed yet. The primary hang up is difficulties with the government making decisions and getting approvals, if you think getting a visa or land deed is bad, try winning and working a technical contract with the powers in charge. IF the designs were done and the government approved them, we would be about two years away from operations.

Want to bet Thaksin is going to nap in his new airbus on the runway????

aye, more likely an excuse to go and have a big wank over his new toy :o

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Spoke with a primary contractor the other day about the new airport and all this fuss about opening in September. He had a hardy laugh and proceded to inform me that support equipment like radar towers and baggage handling is not even designed yet.

Doesn't surprise me in the least. Of course, if anybody were to publicly point out these deficiencies, they are branded as a heretic, told that they are stupid, not a team player and summarily dismissed as simply not knowing what they are talking about.

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Suvarnabhumi Airport will not open on time: NBIA

Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra’s pledge to camp out at the Suvarnabhumi Airport site to accelerate construction work looks unlikely to have any impact as sources say that a missed deadline is now a foregone conclusion.

On September 27, Thaksin and a number of Cabinet ministers plan to spend a night at the construction site of Bangkok’s new international airport to underscore their resolve to speed up its completion.

Thaksin will also hold a Cabinet meeting there the following day, during which ministers will be briefed on the latest developments by Srisook Chandrangsu, permanent secretary for Transport, who is set to retire at the end of this month.

“Despite all efforts, there seems to be no way that the airport is going to be open in September next year,” said a source at New Bangkok International Airport Co (NBIA), which is overseeing its progress.

The source said that all of the basic work would have to be completed before September 2005 to keep pace with the original schedule and allow a sufficient period for safety testing.

But the NBIA found that many cogs in the new airport’s construction machine had under-performed. Major concerns were around the construction of elevated roads fronting the airport worth Bt2.1 billion, as Shimizu and Wichitpan Construction had only finished 19 per cent of its workload, despite earlier agreeing to wrap up by May 31. The concourse building is only 52 per cent complete.

The roads and the building are part of the passenger terminal complex, which must be completed by December 1. The complex’s contractor is part of ITO Joint Venture comprising Italian-Thai Development, Takenaka Corp and Obayashi Corp.

More concerns revolve around the fact that the contractor responsible for building the airport’s runways has only completed 40 per cent of its workload ahead of an August 2005 deadline.

Italian-Thai and Nishimatsu Construction, meanwhile, are battling to finish off the remaining 58 per cent of work on power distribution facilities and ductbank systems, despite only having six months left on its contract.

The NBIA official said at least eight projects were still halfway through procuring raw materials. Other projects concerning buildings and warehouses were less than 10 per cent complete.

“There are so many issues to look at such as the hotel, parking lot, kitchen and communications network. It’s disturbing that we have to complete all of these [in a hurry] as we still have to test all the systems for full safety,” he said.

Last month, the International Air Transport Association estimated Suvarnabhumi would fall 12 to 18 months behind schedule.

The current situation makes this seem almost inevitable. However the government has so far refused to admit any degree of failure or hold up.

-- The Nation 2004-09-21

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Suvarnabhumi Airport will not open on time: NBIA

The current situation makes this seem almost inevitable. However the government has so far refused to admit any degree of failure or hold up.

-- The Nation 2004-09-21

Now let's not put all the blame on T.

Didn't I read today somewhere, that delays are unavoidable due to the heavy rainfalls, recently?

I say, nobody can be blamed for an unexpected rainy season and btw, nobody can expect that there will be Songkhran next year. :o

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Now let's not put all the blame on T.

Didn't I read today somewhere, that delays are unavoidable due to the heavy rainfalls, recently?

I say, nobody can be blamed for an unexpected rainy season and btw, nobody can expect that there will be Songkhran next year.  :o

That excuse would work except for the small detail that the new airport has been under construction since 1960! :D

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Another unneeded waste of expense and time to allow a political push for future gain. How much is it costing to bivwac a top PM and his rear guard for a day. much dosh and intrusions on many planned sectors of that project that could achive more with a hammer than a flag wave day.

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:D

Suvarnabhumi Airport

PM confident Suvarnabhumi Airport will be opened as scheduled.

BANGKOK, Sept 28 (TNA) - Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra yesterday confirmed the New Bangkok International Airport (NBIA), or Suvarnabhumi Airport, would be ready for the takeoff and landing of planes as scheduled on September 29, 2005.

The premier, accompanied by Transport Minister Suriya Jungrungreangkit, arrived at the construction site of the airport yesterday evening to make an on-site inspection and greet workers.

He and the minister stayed in a makeshift tent at the airport for one night so they could attend the mobile cabinet meeting on the site today.

Both were received by Srisuk Chantrangkul, chairman of NBIA's board, and led to inspect airplane terminals and passenger terminals, which are under construction.

From his inspection, Mr. Thaksin said, the project had been 69% in progress.

He has planned to talk to contractors on problems they are experiencing.

He said the government was ready to give full support for the facilitation of the project implementation.

The premier said he was confident that Thailand would become a regional aviation hub within the next three years.

He added that he would attempt to make the airport open for service as scheduled on September 29, 2005.

Any airplane would be able to take off and land at the airport on that date.

Asked when exactly the airport would be officially put into service, the premier said it would depend on how soon the airport would be given a permit by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) to begin the service.

He said he would invite ICAO officials to jointly inspect the construction process so they could consider giving the permit to the airport operation soon.

(TNA) - E005, E112

:o

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Asked when exactly the airport would be officially put into service, the premier said it would depend on how soon the airport would be given a permit by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) to begin the service.

Just love it! Anything goes wrong, it will be ICAO-mistake. :o

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Asked when exactly the airport would be officially put into service, the premier said it would depend on how soon the airport would be given a permit by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) to begin the service.

Just love it! Anything goes wrong, it will be ICAO-mistake. :D

Yup, yet another clear-cut example of foreigners holding Thailand back. :o

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