Anutin vows to revoke ITD contracts despite court risks

Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul insists that the contracts for the partial construction of the Thai-Chinese high-speed rail and the Rama II elevated motorway projects with Italian-Thai Development Plc must be revoked for public safety reasons.

He told the media, during an inspection trip to the site of the fatal crane accident on the motorway project in Samut Sakhon yesterday, that he has instructed Transport Minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn to explore ways to revoke the contracts with the ITD.

He said that the government will, if necessary, issue an administrative order to scrap the contracts. He also said that he is not concerned that the company may take the case to the Administrative Court, to seek compensation from the government, noting that any such court proceedings may expose more blunders, as well as irregularities on the part of state agencies which have not yet come to light.

The Administrative Court, meanwhile, is ready to accept lawsuits seeking additional compensation from the state from the victims or relatives of victims of the two fatal crane accidents in Nakhon Ratchasima and Samut Sakhon provinces on Wednesday and Thursday respectively.

Thoedpong Kongchan, a chief judge at the Udon Thani Administrative Court, said that administrative law entitles victims who sustain injuries, or the families of those killed on state projects, to file lawsuits with the provincial Administrative Court within a 12 months of the accidents.



Each family of the 32 people killed in the crane accident in Sikhio district of Nakhon Ratchasima will receive 1.6 million baht compensation from the State Railways of Thailand, the ITD and insurance coverage.