"Four water drainage pumps for Suvarnabhumi airport, bought for 1.5 billion baht, are overpriced and do not meet the contract specifications, deputy auditor-general Pisit Leelawachilopas said yesterday. . .Mr Pisit said the four pumps were found to be overvalued. The cost of the four large machines provided by the contractor should be less than one billion baht.
The pumps were substandard and could malfunction and cause flooding at the airport and adjacent areas, which were on swampy ground. The irrigation project is designed to drain water from the area into the sea in Samut Prakan.
Mr Pisit said the pumps did not meet specifications and would be unable to handle the load required to ensure proper drainage of the airport area. ''No matter how expensive they are, they could be ruined by the excessive workload,'' said Mr Pisit."
http://www.bangkokpost.com/breaking_news/b...s.php?id=120404
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Warning: Airport could be flooded
Started by Sexpat, Jul 24 2007 09:30 AM
1 reply to this topic
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Posted 24 July 2007 - 05:00 PM
QUOTE
Mr Pisit said the pumps did not meet specifications and would be unable to handle the load required to ensure proper drainage of the airport area.
You always wonder in this post-coup period whether talk like that is an attempt to demonize the old Thaksin clique, or a "cover your ass" attempt to concede what some experts have feared was a serious error to locate and build the new airport in the flood plain.
Some people believe that the intentional flooding of vast areas of the Thai countryside north and north-west of Bangkok last year in what was called the "monkey-cheek" plan, causing misery and losses to thousands living there, was a desperate attempt to prevent the capital and its new airport from going underwater if those flood waters had been allowed to flow south.
This flood warnng may be an attempt to prepare the public for the possibility of such flooding at the new airport if the same "monkey cheek" diversion proves impossible for various reasons. If flooding does occur at the airport, they may be setting the stage to blame it on the Thaksin crowd for ordering the wrong pumps.
