The Port open-air zone and the underground market called That’s Siam were closed off on June 8 after several structural pillars showed signs of crumbling. (See story here.)
An engineer at Patong Municipality, who asked not to be named, told The Phuket News today (July 27) that a team of municipality engineers inspected the repairs yesterday, and were to return tomorrow for a final, formal inspection.
“We agreed that Jungceylon cannot open the affected areas to the public until we discuss all issues, including what caused the damage, tomorrow at a meeting with officials and representatives from Jungceylon,” he said.
The formal inspection tomorrow will give all parties involved the chance to give their explanations of what happened and the repairs made, the engineer explained.
Patong Municipality engineers met yesterday to discuss their own findings, he added.
“We have not been able to conclude what caused the damage, we’re but pretty sure that it had nothing to do with structural defects or the design. I don’t think the damage was caused by rainwater either,” he added.
“Workers have already repaired all the damaged pillars and we inspected the area again yesterday (July 26) and confirmed that all works met the requirements by our office,” the engineer explained, but declined to give details of what work was done to the damaged pillars.
“The Jungceylon project engineer overseeing the repairs assured that the area was safe and ready to open. However, Patong Municipality must inspect the area again after the meeting tomorrow. Then we will know for sure if we can open the area for the public to use,” he said.
“We told the Jungceylon engineering team to remove all the supports they had placed around the pillars out of the area by tomorrow. At the meeting, if all departments agree that all findings are final and deem the area to be safe, Jungceylon will set a date to reopen the area to the public,” the engineer said.