The Secretary-General of the House of Representatives reiterated that the Parliament building has been 100% completed since 4 July 2024, but there is still a 2-year obligation to the contractor. As for the case in the Central Administrative Court, it is an old case from 2020, in which Sino-Thai sued the Office of the Secretary-General for delayed delivery. He believes that an explanation can be provided. Pol. Lt. Col. Aphat Sukhanan, Secretary-General of the House of Representatives, revealed about the acceptance of the Parliament building that since there was still the last part of the work that had not yet been accepted because the hiring inspection committee had conflicting opinions between the majority and the minority, he, as the head of the government agency, had to make a decision. From asking both the project supervisor, consultants, and requesting opinions from the law firm on the conflicting issues, on July 4, 2024, he made a decision in line with the majority of the committee and received 100% of the work from the contractor. A letter was sent to the contractor to notify the acceptance of the work, including a certificate of performance for the operation on July 15, 2024. When asked if he was concerned that if the entire work was handed over while there were still criticisms about the construction, it would lead to complaints later, Pol. Lt. Col. Aphat said that it must be accepted that each piece of work, once handed over, was put into use, not waiting to receive 100% and then putting it into use at once. Instead, the work was gradually handed over in installments and gradually used in each section continuously. Some defects may have occurred from use, so it must be investigated whether the damage occurred was caused by use or construction. However, after the handover, there is still a 2-year obligation between the Office of the Secretariat of the House of Representatives and the contractor to correct any defects. As for the case where the Central Administrative Court has scheduled the first hearin g in the case between Sino-Thai Engineering and Construction Public Company Limited and the Office of the Secretary-General of the House of Representatives, Pol. Lt. Col. Aphat said that it is the same case that Sino-Thai had sued the office since 2020, which was before the final handover of the work. However, the court has just scheduled to call witnesses from both parties and has scheduled the first hearing in August of this year. The office has consulted with the public prosecutor, as it is a state agency that has been sued, to fight the facts and the law that was hired to sue, which has reasons that can be explained to the court as to the reasons for such action. The Secretary-General of the House of Representatives confirmed that the lawsuit filed by Sino-Thai was not the reason for the delay in the handover on July 4, because the contractor had filed the lawsuit since 2020, which was due to the delay in the initial handover of the work. However, at that time, the Office of the Secretary-General of the H ouse of Representatives had extended the time period for the contractor as well, which was one of the arguments of the office. Pol. Lt. Col. Aphat also mentioned about bringing the bell to receive complaints from the people at the entrance of the parliament building that because Mr. Pichet Chueamuangphan, the second deputy speaker of the parliament, thought that there were many people who came to file complaints with the parliament, but in reality, the office accepted complaints through an online system, but some people wanted to come and file them in person. Therefore, the second deputy speaker thought that there should be a room to receive complaints from the people at the entrance. Therefore, a room was set up at the entrance on the side of Wat Kaew Fa Chulamani to receive complaints, along with bringing the bell to be set up as a symbol. But now, there has been no official reception, so it is not yet in use. As for whether Mr. Pichet will come to open it himself, we will have to wait for coordination fro m the deputy speaker of the parliament again. Source: Thai News Agency
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