Legal hurdles exist which could pose a problem for removing houses in the controversial residential project for judicial officials in Chiang Mai, according to Treasury Department deputy chief Amornrat Klamplob.
She said removing or dismantling accommodation built using state money can only be done if the buildings are decommissioned, have been in use for more than 25 years, or are carried out for the purpose of concealing military secrets.
Ms Amornrat said the housing project at the foot of Doi Suthep does not fall into any of those categories.
Early this month, the government decided the 113-rai area where the 45 houses and nine flats are being built under the project will no longer be zoned for residential use. The land will be returned to the department. The project has provoked resistance from local people and environmental activists who demanded the land be reforested, although the judiciary has insisted it obtained access to the land legally.
Ms Amornrat said the department has named a panel to oversee the transfer of the land back to it. She said questions have remained over what to do with the houses and flats and how the reforestation could proceed. There is no technical or legal problem with reforestation, which can be carried out straight away. However, careful consideration was needed to decide what to do with the houses and the flats already built or half-built.
The legal challenge would be ironed out by a panel set up by the department involving representatives from the Comptroller-General's Department, the Budget Bureau and the Office of the State Audit. Ms Amornrat said the panel may need to look at other avenues under a law that could allow the buildings to be taken down.
Technically, she said the houses and the flats could be uprooted and relocated elsewhere, which would be much more costly than dismantling them.
Earlier, Theerasak Roopsuwan, coordinator of the network for reclaiming the Doi Suthep land, said the network was concerned about a possible delay in returning the housing project land for reforestation.
The network has found some judicial officials and their families had moved in to some of the nine flats. It might not be easy to ask them to leave, he said.
Local activists, meanwhile, have discovered a large pile of rubbish left from the housing construction near the project.
The network members and officials of state agencies are due to meet to follow up on progress.
