Thailand halts multiple major construction projects after fatal accidents

Thailand's Transport Ministry on Friday ordered a 15-day construction halt on 14 contracts involving Italian-Thai Development PCL as well as other large-scale projects overseen by the ministry, as it conducts safety inspections after two fatal crane accidents in two days.

The decision follows a train derailing that killed 32 passengers in northeastern Nakhon Ratchasima on Wednesday and the death of two drivers when their vehicles were crushed near Bangkok 24 hours later, with both incidents caused by the collapse of cranes used on Italian-Thai Development projects.

ITD, founded in 1958 by Italian and Thai partners, has said it accepts responsibility for providing care, compensation, and remedies for the losses incurred in both incidents.

The halt to the 14 projects would allow expert teams to conduct detailed inspections to ensure safety standards were being met, said Chirapong Theppithuck, deputy permanent secretary of the Transport Ministry.

He also ordered other major projects commissioned by the ministry to stop construction for up to 15 days for similar inspections, after which legal or regulatory action would be taken if required, the ministry said in a statement.

'DANGER TO THE PUBLIC'

This week's crane collapses were the latest in a series of fatal accidents at construction projects in Thailand, several involving Italian-Thai, including the fall of a partially-built Bangkok tower last year following a 7.7-magnitude earthquake in neighbouring Myanmar, which killed at least 89 and led to charges of negligence against 23 people.

Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, who faces a general election next month, reiterated on Friday that his government would terminate ITD's contracts for the two accident-hit projects and pursue legal action against the firm.

The two projects are an elevated highway near Bangkok and the building of concrete structures for a stretch of an elevated high-speed rail line in the northeast that will connect Thailand with China through Laos.

"The government sees this as a danger to people’s lives and property and has instructed the transport minister to terminate the contracts," Anutin told reporters. "In this case, actions have posed a danger to the public. Therefore, we must use an administrative order to proceed."

In a statement to the stock exchange earlier on Friday, ITD said the two contracts remained in effect.

Southeast Asia's second-biggest economy is in the middle of a massive infrastructure boom, building highways and high-speed rail lines across the country and expanding its elevated rail network in Bangkok.

The government last year said the whole high-speed rail line from Bangkok to Nong Khai at the border with Laos would be finished by 2030.