Seven bidders have qualified to submit proposals to design and build flood prevention projects under the government’s 350 billion baht megaproject, Deputy Transport Minister Chadchart Sitiphan said yesterday.
The bidders were shortlisted from a total of 34 companies and groups of companies that had expressed interest in preparing conceptual designs for the projects.
The 27 bidders that failed to pass the initial qualification selection process have until today to lodge an appeal at Government House, said Mr Chadchart, who is also vice-chairman of the selection panel.
The seven qualifiers are: Korea’s Water Resources Corporation; ITD Power China JV comprising five companies; Summit SUT Joint Venture comprising three companies; Team Thailand Joint Venture comprising eight companies, China CAMC Engineering Co. Ltd; Japan-Thailand Joint Venture comprising 11 companies and Consortium TKC Global comprising 16 companies.
Mr Chadchart said the government will brief representatives of the bidders about the framework of the project and conceptual designs.
Those who have qualified need to submit draft conceptual plans with cost and construction details by Nov 23.
After that, the government will interview each bidder, Mr Chadchart said.
The government will decide by March 15 next year which ones will be awarded contracts, but the results will be subject to the cabinet’s approval, he said.
In another news, the Public Sector Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC) yesterday inspected flood rehabilitation projects in five northeastern provinces and found signs of corruption in various projects _ from road repairs to canal dredging.
Outgoing PACC secretary-general Dussadee Arayawuthi yesterday said the government had allocated nearly 1 billion baht for 776 flood rehabilitation projects in Nong Khai, Bung Kan, Loei, Udon Thani, and Khon Kaen provinces.
Udon Thani, a stronghold of the pro-government red-shirt members, won the largest chunk, 651 million baht for 273 projects, he said.The PACC has randomly examined 55 projects in the five provinces and found signs of corruption in every project.
Irregularities include the contractor’s failure to follow the terms of reference, the absence of a median price, ambiguous contract specifications, and use of low-grade materials.
A contract for a canal dredging project in Nong Khai’s Muang district says the contractor must remove 70,000 cubic metres of mud from the waterway, but only 10,000 cu m was removed, Pol Col Dussadee said. The details would be forwarded to the PACC’s sub-panels.
Source: http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/313302/seven-bidders-qualify-for-flood-prevention-work
Will be watching this with much interest. Currently living in Queensland, Australia where 70% was declared flood affected in Feb 2011 and have been engaged in the flood restoration programme. My wife is Thai living in Bangkok. I personally experienced the start of the Bangkok/Rangsit floods while there.
Rob Bottger intec.oz@bigpond.com