The new parliament is still only 24% complete and years behind schedule, a dissatisfied National Legislative Assembly president Pornpetch Wichitcholchai said after inspecting the site in Kiakkai area on Tuesday.
He had asked the Secretariat of the House of Representatives to work with the contractor to speed up the work in areas where land is already available.
The secretariat also needs to speed up to transfer to the contractor of land formerly occupied by Yothin Burana School and a fabric weaving community under the Defence Ministry, he said.
Meanwhile, with the first extension of the contract expiring at the end on this year, the contractor is seeking a second extension of another 611 days, which would set completion date back a further two years. The secretariat, the consultant and the contractor were still discussing the terms of agreement.
Chotejuta Artsorn, managing director of consulting firm CAMA, said 70% of the actual structural work had been done, and the remaining 30% should be completed by mid-2017.
He said the civil and architectural works could be done at the same time. He estimated the new parliament would be completed in 2019.
The 12-billion-baht parliament is being built by Sino-Thai Engineering and Construction Plc. The contract has been extended once, on Nov 25, 2015, when the completion date was set for Dec 15 this year.
However, as of last Friday, only about 24% of the project has been completed, with only 125 days left under the extended contract.
The contractor has asked for a second extension, a further 611 days, but the project consultant believed it should be for only 421 days.