National Legislative Assembly (NLA) president Pornpetch Wichitcholchai has expressed frustration at further construction delays at the new parliament.
He and several other legislators inspected the site Tuesday.
Construction of the new parliament building is only 24% complete, NLA members were told at a briefing. Mr Pornpetch said he was unhappy with the slow progress.
He urged the Secretariat of the House of Representatives which was responsible for hiring the contractor to quickly clear two additional land plots for construction work.
The plots are still occupied by Yothinburana School — which is in the process of being demolished — and six families who have yet to move house.
Officials from the Office of the Parliamentary Secretary-General told the legislators the plots would be cleared before October to prevent further delays.
Sino-Thai Engineering and Construction Plc was hired in 2013 as the contractor for the 12-billion-baht project, which has experienced repeated delays.
The new parliament was originally supposed to be completed in November 2015, but the company was granted a one-year extension, with the completion date set for Dec 15 this year.
With only about 24% of the project complete, only 125 days remain under the extended contract to get the job done.
Sino-Thai has asked for a second extension of more than 611 days which is being considered by the Secretariat of the House of Representatives and CAMA, a consortium of four consulting firms for the project.
CAMA managing director, Chotejuta Artsorn, said 70% of the actual structural work had been done, and the remaining 30% should be completed by mid-2017.
He said the civil and architectural work could be carried out at the same time. He estimated the new parliament would be ready in 2019.
However, he said the possibility of extending the deadline a third time was also being discussed.
Mr Pornpetch stood by the decision to use 5,000 teak wood logs for the project, saying plans to do so were going ahead, despite growing objections.
“If the prime minister or government want us to do otherwise, they should formally notify us. Otherwise, we are pursuing our original plans,” he said.
Source: http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/politics/1063488/frustration-over-delays-to-new-parliament