BMA puts a halt to payments for fire-trucks
The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) had asked Krung Thai Bank to halt all payments for the fire-fighting trucks bought in a controversial Bt6.68-billion deal as the case is still under investigation, Bangkok Governor Apirak Kosayodhin said yesterday.
Apirak said the BMA had also halted the process of formal inspection and acceptance of the trucks. The first instalment of Bt845 million is due on February 10. He said the BMA would soon discuss with the Interior Ministry about what to do with the fire-fighting vehicles and equipment after the joint panel from seven agencies led by the Justice Ministry had finished its investigation. The project was 60 per cent subsidised by the government and 40 per cent by the BMA, he said. The project is also under the investigation of the Assets Examination Committee. Deputy Bangkok Governor Wallop Suwandee said the BMA had not used the fire-fighting vehicles and the trucks were still the responsibility of the Austrian supplier Steyr Daimler Puch, until the BMA formally accepts the delivery after the investigations are finished. He said the company was expected to deliver the second lot of trucks - but the BMA would also postpone the inspection and acceptance process.
Jeerawan Prasomsap The Nation
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