How municipality reacted to outcry over 58 fans on school’s exterior

The outcry on social media was triggered by a photo posted on Facebook on Wednesday of the multi-purpose building of Krading Thong School in Tambon Sakhu of Suvarnabhumi district showing the row of fans on the parapet ceiling.

The FB page, Watchdog.act, said in the caption that a contract had been placed for 72 fans and 29 of them were lined up at the front of the building.

The post on Wednesday afternoon drew over 25,000 reactions and over 4,900 comments within 24 hours. It has been shared over 6,600 times so far.

Netizens were shocked to see so many fans placed so close to one another and mounted on the building’s exterior where no one would need air from the fans.

A Nation reporter from Surin province, who went to check the building, found another row of 29 fans mounted in a similar manner on the back of the building.

It was learned from the Tambon Sakhu Municipality that it had contracted the construction of the multi-purpose building for the school with a budget of 7.73 million baht. The project was awarded to a contractor via e-bidding method.

Work started on January 13 last year and the construction contract expired on October 10, 2023. As part of the contract, 72 fans worth a total of 100,080 baht — 1,390 baht for each fan — had to be installed in the building.

The reporter checked and found that 58 fans were mounted on the parapet ceiling on the front and back of the building. Two more fans were installed inside restrooms and eight fans in two dressing rooms and another in the sound control room. The contractor had not installed three fans.

On Thursday, Lamphan Srettho, permanent secretary of the municipality, clarified that the contractor had made a mistake by installing the fans in the wrong place.

Lamphan said the contract required the installation of 72 fans but the exact locations in the building had not been specified and the contractor would have had to wait for municipal officials to specify the installation areas.

However, Lamphan said the contractor had to speed up the project to finish it within the deadline, so the fans were installed in a rush outside the building.

The municipality removed the fans outside the building on Thursday after the issue became the talk of the town.