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The Nation
BANGKOK: -- The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) is ready to demolish a luxury hotel near Soi Ruamrudee because the Pathum Wan district office wrongly certified that the soi is more than 10 metres wide and that construction of tall buildings there was lawful.
Bangkok Deputy Governor Theerachon Manomaiphibool said he had instructed Pathum Wan district chief Phawinee Amartthas to issue an order requiring building owner Larp Prathan Co to demolish the 24-storey The Aetas Hotel immediately, as soon as she received the verdict from the court.
"The district office has the authority to do so on behalf of the Bangkok governor," Theerachon said. "Or, the district office could demolish the hotel at the expense of the owners, who have 30 days to appeal against the verdict.
"The Pathum Wan office was not at fault; rather it was the fault of anyone making a request for the construction." Nonetheless, the BMA will look into the matter and penalise any official, whether at the district office or the BMA's Public Works Department, who certified that the soi is wider than 10 metres, he said.
Former Pathum Wan district office chief Surakiat Limjaroen, now a deputy director of the BMA's Fire and Rescue Department, said he would need to study the verdict before making any comment, but explained that it was the Public Works Department that granted the permit for Larp Prathan to build The Aetas Hotel.
Phawinee said she was ready to issue the demolition order once she received the verdict, but proceeding with the job would depend on whether the firm appealed against the ruling.
Asked why there was no BMA or district office staff present at the court hearing on Thursday, she said the district office was not directly notified by the court, although Larp Prathan, a construction company that built the hotel, had informed it of the scheduled session. BMA spokesman Wasan Meewong had earlier said an appeal would be made against the verdict in principle and that he would provide more details at a later stage.
A legal adviser to the BMA, Sanya Jantharat, said the complainants and BMA officials might have conflicting views on the soi-width issue, adding that he would comment later.
According to a 1992 directive, buildings on sois less than 10 metres wide must be limited to 23 metres - or about seven storeys - in height, or total office space of 10,000 square metres.
A Larp Prathan director, Surachet Wongworrasu, said the hotel's management disagreed with the verdict and would appeal against it. He repeated a company statement that all details relating to construction had been verified, including a written reply from the Pathum Wan district office that Soi Ruamrudee, which is in an area of prime real estate, was more than 10 metres wide, making the construction of the hotel lawful.
"The physical dimensions of the soi vary all the time, as land plots along the soi continually change hands and subsequent encroachment on public areas may reduce the width to less than 10 metres at some points," he said.
Surachet said the BMA should take action against encroachers instead of finding fault with Larp Prathan Co Ltd.
A BMA source said the legal battle between the agency and The Aetas Hotel owner could be lengthy because the firm would simply cite the district office's written certification that the soi was wider than 10 metres in its appeal. More than 20 tall buildings have gone up in and near Soi Ruamrudee in the past 15 years, the source added.
-- The Nation 2012-02-11
