Thai watchdog had flagged concerns on building that collapsed in earthquake
By Panu Wongcha-um
BANGKOK (Reuters) - An anti-corruption watchdog had flagged irregularities in the construction of a Bangkok skyscraper that collapsed in an earthquake last week and killed at least 11 people, the head of the monitoring group told Reuters.
The government had threatened to cancel the project earlier this year because of delays, Mana Nimitmongkol, president of the Anti-Corruption Organisation of Thailand, said on Sunday.
The government has announced an investigation into the cause of the collapse of the tower, which was being built by a Chinese company and a long-established Thai construction firm.
Rescuers were still desperately searching on Monday for 76 more people feared trapped under the rubble of the unfinished 30-storey tower for Thailand's State Audit Office.
The unfinished tower was the only Bangkok building that completely crumbled when a 7.7 magnitude quake struck central Myanmar on Friday and rattled neighbouring countries.
Construction of the building, which began in 2020, is being carried out by a joint venture between Italian Thai Development PCL and a local subsidiary of China's state-owned China Railway Group, the China Railway Number 10 (Thailand) Ltd.
Italian Thai Development and China Railway Group did not immediately comment when contacted by Reuters.
The audit office has said that it will investigate the cause of the building collapse. It did not answer e-mailed questions from Reuters whether it had threatened to cancel the construction contract.
The tower was originally slated for completion by 2026 but was behind schedule. The deputy auditor general, Sutthipong Boonnithi, told reporters on Saturday that construction was only "30% completed" before it collapsed.
Site visits to the project during construction by the anti-corruption group had raised concerns about delays, worker shortages and possible corner-cutting, Mana said.
"Sometimes the number of workers on site were much fewer than there should be, causing delays," he said. "Potentially there was a rush to complete the project towards the end, which could cause a drop in the standard of work."
Mana, whose organisation scrutinises some 170 government projects around the country, said the construction delay was so severe that the audit office had threatened to cancel the contract with the two construction companies in January.
Share prices of ITD tumbled 30% when markets opened on Monday against a benchmark drop of 1%.
NO OTHER BUILDING COLLAPSED
Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra ordered government agencies on Saturday to investigate the root cause of the building collapse within one week.
The official Thai investigation is looking into the construction plan, the standard of the material used as well as possible unsafe action during the construction of the building.
Han Zhinqiang, China's ambassador to Thailand, said on Sunday that China would cooperate in the investigation.
Thai Industry Minister Akanat Promphan told Reuters that he was concerned sub-standard steel may have been used in the construction of the building as he led the team collecting samples from the rubble on Sunday.
The material gathered was being tested at the site, and results were expected to be announced on Monday afternoon.
The ministry has been cracking down on companies that have produced sub-standard steel over the past six months, shutting down seven factories and seizing 360 million baht (about $10 million) worth of assets from these steel companies, he said.
"Many of these factories used an old production process and equipment relocated from China," Akanat said, adding: "This has led to sub-standard steel."
Experts from the council of engineers that is assisting the government in surveying buildings around the Thai capital for earthquake damages speculated that the skyscraper could have collapsed due to unsafe material or poor planning in the building process.
"It is strange that no other buildings suffered like this," Anek Siripanichgorn, a board member of the Council of Engineers Thailand told Reuters.
"Even other tall buildings under construction, they did not collapse," he said.
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