A police panel investigating irregularities in building police stations nationwide has decided it will ask the national police chief to scrap the deal with the contractor.
The decision was made at a panel meeting yesterday after the contractor, PCC Development and Construction Co (PCC), failed to show a detailed construction plan for the project.
Pol Gen Worapong Chiewpreecha, the deputy national police chief who chaired the meeting, said the panel will wait for construction progress reports from regional police offices and the southernmost provinces before forwarding its recommendation to scrap the deal to the police chief.
PCC was granted a contract by the Royal Thai Police Office to build 396 police stations nationwide but failed to complete them by the June 17 deadline last year.
The same company was also awarded a contract to build 163 police apartment blocks nationwide for 3.7 billion baht.
The deals were approved under the previous Abhisit Vejjajiva government's Thai Khem Khaeng economic stimulus scheme.
"The company claimed it had been unable to complete the construction work because of major flooding in 2011," Pol Gen Worapong said.
President of PCC Piboon Udomsitthikul yesterday said it was untrue his firm could not complete the construction because it had liquidity problems.
He also denied his company was awarded the project through collusion with the help of certain politicians.
Navapon Pradmali, a PCC lawyer, insisted the company had intended to complete all the building work but could not do so because of many problems including the severe floods in 2011.
PCC placed a financial guarantee to win the contract, and the state need not worry if the firm could not carry on with the work, Mr Navapon said.
The company will talk to the media next week to explain the problem to the public.
National police chief Adul Saengsingkaew said a new operations hub at the Royal Thai Police Office will look into the matter. The centre will be supervised by Border Patrol Police Bureau deputy commissioner Chalee Thepa.
The centre will decide what to do with the contract which expires on March 14. It will also be responsible for seeking evidence about possible collusion.
If the centre decides to scrap the contract, it will have to find a new contractor quickly.
He said the PCC will be allowed to carry on with the construction work of the police apartments since its work on these buildings has been carrying on uninterrupted.
Department of Special Investigation (DSI) chief Tarit Pengdith yesterday said the agency's investigators have found a possible violation of the Anti-Price Collusion Act in the police station project.
The PCC won the contract for 5.8 billion baht, 247 million baht lower than its nearest rival. The winning bid was also much lower than the government's median price of 6.3 billion baht, he said.
The DSI chief said the wining price was deemed unusual as it was much lower than that of other bidders, leaving no opportunity for them to compete.
He said he did not believe the PCC intended to complete the project and would file for bankruptcy if police filed a damages lawsuit.
Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister Chalerm Yubamrung claimed yesterday some documents suggest that 800 million baht disbursed for the project had been transferred to the father-in-law of a politician in Chiang Mai.
The evidence is clear and legal action must be taken, he said.