Bangkok governor-elect Chadchart Sittipunt has outlined his main priorities, although he admitted some might not be accomplished during his four-year term.
Speaking to a television channel yesterday morning following his landslide election victory on Sunday, Mr Chadchart said he had three main priorities.
One was to familiarise City Hall officials with his 213-point policy that will set the direction of his administration.
The second is to tackle city flooding and increase road safety.
Thirdly, Mr Chadchart said he will focus on bread and butter issues. He will allocate vending spaces which do not intrude on pavements and stamp out extortion of vendors by city officials. He also plans to look at what the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration can do to help ease their economic hardship.
"Floods are a major issue on most people's minds. But we cannot forget about unsafe zebra crossings.
"Also, there's the persistent concern about dust pollution," he said.
In many districts, anti-flood measures and vending space management can go right ahead, he added.
"While the plans are practical, they may not all be accomplished [during his term as governor]," he said. One of them is the proposed creation of public gardens within a 15-minute walk from residential communities.
"But there will definitely be progress in these projects which must be launched first because they take time to materialise," he said.
Mr Chadchart, who won with more than 1.3 million votes -- a record high -- insisted there was no honeymoon period for him. He would get down to business once his election was formally endorsed.
The Pheu Thai Party, to which Mr Chadchart belonged before breaking away to run as an independent candidate in the governor race, won 20 council seats, followed by Move Forward (14), the Democrat Party (9), the Rak Krungthep group (3), Palang Pracharath (2) and Thai Sang Thai (2), according to unofficial results. The city council has 50 members, one for each district.
"I believe I will be able to work well [with the council members] since I'm independent," he said.
Mr Chadchart made it clear he would try to avoid involvement in national politics although he would work with any government of the day.
Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha has congratulated Mr Chadchart on his election victory, government spokesman Thanakorn Wangboonkongchana said yesterday.
He said Gen Prayut had assured Mr Chadchart that the government would give him and his team all due support for the development of Bangkok.
