The national anti-graft agency will launch an investigation into claims of corruption in repair works carried out on the country’s longest wooden bridge.
The Mon Bridge in Kanchanaburi’s Sangkhla Buri district reopened yesterday after being closed since partially collapsing during severe floods in July last year.
Thawat Trairuntrakun, a Kanchanaburi provincial authority councillor, petitioned the National Anti-Corruption Commission to investigate the repair work carried out on the bridge after the contractor, who failed to fix the structure on time, was handed a 10-million-baht payout.
Por Rungruang Wassaduphan Co received the compensation last month after provincial authorities decided to terminate its contract following a series of work delays.
Mr Thawat argued that the compensation was wrongly awarded to the firm.
He said locals are unhappy about the company being given the money because the firm had missed two deadlines to finish the repairs on the bridge this year.
Mr Thawat said the NACC would send a team to Kanchanaburi at the end of this month to collect first-hand evidence and work alongside staff from the provincial NACC office.
Por Rungruang Wassaduphan Co was hired to repair the 850m-long bridge last year under a contract worth 16.34 million baht.
The firm claimed it was unable to finish the work on time because of difficulties in acquiring necessary materials.
The company claimed it had spent around 10 million baht on the repairs, despite the work only being 30% complete by the August deadline.
But it took local carpenters and army engineers from the 9th Military Engineer Regiment just 36 days to finish fixing the bridge after taking over from the failing contractor.
The Mon Bridge was first built by local ethnic Mon people to honour Luang Por Uttama, who protected them from fighting along the Thai-Myanmar border.
The structure, officially called the Uttamanusorn Bridge, was completed in 1987, crossing the Song Kalia River and linking Sangkhla Buri district with the Mon community of Ban Wangka.