The mandate was issued this morning at an urgent meeting at the Phuket Highway District office (Kuan Din Dang) called by the governor to address concerns and criticisms circulating on social media about safety shortcomings with the 834-million-baht project.
The concerns were highlighted in a propaganda video that went viral on social media this past weekend, published following news about private citizens taking road repairs into their own hands (story here).
The governor addressed a number of representatives of project, including bridge construction director, Mr Narin Srisompan, project manager Mr Chawalert Lertchawanakul, along with Samak Lueduanghad, Director of the Highways Department Phuket office and project specialist Mr Chalermphon Wongkietkhun.
Several representatives of the media also attended the meeting, which had a stated objective to establish clarity in respect to safety standards and a clear time-line of the remainder of the project, which is currently “less than half complete”.
The governor mandated that from herein there would be need to be monthly update briefings from the contractor and highways department to ensure that progress is in line with set targets, updates of which would need to be made known clearly to the public.
Moreover, safety hazards and flooding issues would need to be addressed at once, the governor told the meeting.
See also story about underpass safety under scrutiny.
Mr Narin Srisompun concurred that safety standards was the project's most urgent priority, noting that he is working with the contractor to address hazardous pot holes near the project by installing more well-lit road-barriers to better guide motorists.
Moreover, he told the governor that he is pressing the contractor to complete installation of drainage pipes as soon as possible, while widening passage area on the south bound side of the project to allow swifter and safer passage.
Nonetheless, the director was given three days, until Wednesday (September 23) to finalize said measures.
Meanwhile, project manager Mr Chawalert Lertchawanakul agreed to have the contractor provide monthly progress updates as per mandate, stating “We will do our best to relieve distress of residents”.
Mr Samak went on to express dissatisfaction that some affected residents chose to use social media to express their woes, instead of making complaints directly with him.
“The Highways Department takes responsibility when any resident is personally affected by the project. For big cases, we've assigned officials to look after [them] but for small cases, in which there wasn't much impact, [they] didn't contact us but instead went to vent on social media. Come to us directly,” he said
The project along Chalermprakiet Rd or Route 402 will comprise an overall length of 3.2km with a features a 1 km long tunnel.
The project's current contract is due to expire on October 9, 2015. At last update, the Highways Department slated February next year as the soonest possible completion date.