Will injunction halt riverside promenade?

Will injunction halt riverside promenade?

The Central Administrative Court's decision earlier this week to issue an injunction to halt construction of the controversial Chao Phraya riverside promenade may be deemed a victory for the civic groups which put up a fight against the city administration and an alien structure that they said would cause adverse effect on river ecology, in addition to being an eyesore.

The injunction which came on Wednesday means the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration has to suspend work temporarily until the court gives a final verdict. Civic groups under the Network of Town Planners for Society had taken the case to the court in a last-ditch effort to have the project scrapped. The court initially paid heed to their complaints that the 10-metre-wide path stretching seven kilometres along both sides of country's most important river should be categorised as a building and not a pier. Under such a categorisation, the BMA is obliged to follow Section 4 of the Buildings Control Act 1979 rather than the more lenient Harbour Act.

The court also agreed with complaints that the BMA failed to make a blueprint for the project, which was initially proposed under a 14-billion-baht budget. Fierce resistance prompted the BMA to cut back the budget to 8.3 billion baht although this failed to silence critics.

I welcome the court's decision; however, I'm not sure how long the victory will last; the BMA has 30 days to appeal against the Feb 5 ruling.

From the start about four years ago, the BMA, with support from the then military regime, pushed hard for the riverside project, ignoring public opposition. Since 2018, the agency has already spent 1.3 billion baht on a "feasibility study" and also the so-called public hearings which many derided as a cosmetic process to justify the project.

The Feb 5 ruling reminded me of a harsh verdict made by the Supreme Administrative Court on Dec 2, 2014, ordering the BMA to demolish the upper part of the two buildings of the Aetas Hotel Bangkok on the grounds that it was built illegally (or to correctly put it: "built in accordance with an unlawful construction permit in 2008 by the Pathumwan District Office"). The demolition was supposed to be completed within 60 days of the court verdict.

The court found the hotel, with towers of 18 and 24 floors, had breached the law limiting buildings' height to eight floors on roads narrower than 10 metres.

Yet, the hotel still stands tall today. Every year the BMA has to explain -- as if writing in its annual reports -- that "it has made every effort to find a contractor to demolish the illegally built buildings". In other words, this is mission impossible.

According to the Thansettakij website, new illegal tall buildings being built on the same road are likely to face the same situation as the Aetas Hotel.

In January last year, the then Pathumwan district chief told the media that the agency had drafted terms of reference to select a contractor to demolish the illegal floors of the two buildings and the result would be announced by the end of the month.

At the end of October 2017, the Bangkok governor was adamant that the hotel "is to be demolished and the owner is to be responsible for the cost of demolition work, at 200 million baht".

In reality, anyone can still make a booking and check in at the Aetas Hotel Bangkok. With a great location and a luxury lounge on the top floor, the reviews of the establishment are superb. Their lowest room rate available as of Thursday night is around 2,800 baht without breakfast. It is no surprise the hotel is willing to pay the 30,000-baht daily fine in addition to a one-time fine of up to 100,000 baht. The legal violation is also punishable by six months' imprisonment, but for some reason the BMA has never considered jailing anyone.

If I was a state official dealing with the case, I'd have lost all pride and confidence in my ability to see the law followed.

Back to the promenade. After learning of the court decision, the governor said the BMA was "ready to give up the riverside promenade project". He has repeated such a statement many times, (that the BMA would not go ahead with the promenade if the public did not want it); but the BMA has not abandoned the project and continues to shun resistance.

Given that the project was formulated without real public participation, resistance will remain strong, as it's quite clear the promenade will be a waste.

I only hope the BMA and the Bangkok governor will learn the lesson from the promenade. If it is to appeal the court's injunction, it is obliged to abide by the law and conduct a proper EIA report, show the blueprint to the public and also embrace public participation. And, most importantly, I do hope the BMA will honour its word.

Sirinya Wattanasukchai

Columnist

Sirinya Wattanasukchai is a columnist for the Bangkok Post.

Do you like the content of this article?
COMMENT (8)