Six unfinished jobs of Bangkok governor Chadchart
Settling BMA’s Green Line debts, upgrading bus stops, implementing new plan and burying those unsightly electrical wires still on the waiting list
It has been two years and four months since Chadchart Sittipunt took the helm as governor of the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA), carrying the hopes of nearly 1.4 million voters who entrusted him to change the capital for the better.
The Nation looks into six policies that Chadchart promised during the election but has yet to fulfil.
Settling Green Line debts
After years of court battles, BMA has yet to start paying the money owed to Bangkok Mass Transit System (BTSC) for operation and maintenance of the Green Line extensions. The Administrative Court in July ordered the city to pay the first portion of 11.75 billion baht in 180 days but the BMA is still not done looking into the legality of the O&M contract.
Chadchart had promised that the Green Line debts would be settled within one month of taking office to ensure no interruption to services.
Public transport improvement
Chadchart vowed to improve the quality of the overall public transport system and related facilities in the metropolitan areas. It is truly a Herculean task seeing that Bangkok has over 5,000 bus stops but only 600 of them have proper signage and lighting.
According to a BMA spokesman in May this year, the city has yet to install 500 digital bus stops as promised, while some 500 stops still need improvement.
Bangkok Health Zone
The governor had promised the implementation of a health sandbox initiative city-wide to ensure seamless hospital transfer. After two years the sandboxes are still limited to Dusit and Ratchaphiphat and have yet to integrate with the city’s existing hospital networks.
Chadchart also has yet to fulfil his promise of upgrading BMA’s primary care centres into public health centres capable of providing services under the government’s 30-baht universal healthcare scheme.
New city urban plan
Bangkok has been using the 2013 urban plan for a decade now, double its intended lifespan. The new urban plan Chadchart promised has yet to take off: It is still stuck in the public hearing process as stakeholders cannot find the middle ground in maximising current usage and preparing for future expansion of train networks.
Tackling chronic flooding problems
After the 2022 flood, BMA announced that there were 737 flood vulnerable points in the city. So far, 370 points have been fixed, and some 190 points are estimated to be done within this year, which means the governor still has 177 to go. The “fixing” includes dredging the canals, unblocking waterways, and building water pump stations.
Smart City initiative
Chadchart had promised to make Bangkok a smart city within four years with highlights on seamless public transport network, internet facilities, and improved general livability.
Despite being certified under smart city development criteria since 2017 by the Digital Economy Promotion Agency (DEPA), Bangkok still has problems untangling its telecom and power lines on electrical poles throughout the city, hindering the progress of improved telecommunication networks.
A news source said that the BMA’s underground cable laying projects have trouble finding bidders as the construction requires substantial investment compared to the traditional method of using electrical poles. This remains one of the obstacles for the smart city initiative.
