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New OKMD chairman Apinan Poshyananda, who took over last November, admits all of the claims but says the organisation and its units are vital for Thailand and that they should remain, even with a sharp budget cut.

"The concept is good and has raised positive feedback. The units need re-engineering, in order to reduce their operating costs and fine-tune their operations so that benefits are maintained," he said.

The OKMD and its units have spent a total of Bt3.21 billion in the three years since being established in 2004. Their expenses this year total just over Bt1.068 billion. However, for fiscal 2008, they will be allocated only Bt809.65 million after a sharp cut in the proposed budget of Bt1.3 billion.

The huge spending prompted an audit by the Auditor-General's Office, which concluded that the OKMD and its seven units were not spending their budget economically. Last year alone, office rents and interior decoration cost nearly Bt485 million.

The seven units under the OKMD banner are the National Institute for Brain-Based Learning (NBL), the National Centre for the Gifted and Talented (NGT), Thailand Knowledge Park (TK Park), the National Discovery Museum Institute, the Thailand Creative and Design Centre (TCDC), the Thailand Centre of Excellence for Life Sciences and the Centre for the Promotion of National Strength on Moral Ethics and Values.

Most of the spending has gone towards office rents and investment.

Apinan admits the spending could have been lower if the units had been more careful in managing their costs. For example, TK Park moved its office twice before finally settling on the 7th floor of CentralWorld. The three venues required a total of Bt200 million for decoration.

Another question raised by the Auditor-General's Office regards salaries of Bt300,000 per month for some directors of the eight organisations.

Salary cuts are an issue Apinan has promised to tackle, in order to ensure lower spending and the survival of all. While in the process of recruiting its new director, parent organisation OKMD brought the director's salary down from Bt300,000. The boards of all units will also be smaller, and the OKMD's directors will be tasked with monitoring the work of the units to streamline their operations.

"We won't overhaul everything. We're reducing what we can, and in doing so I'm applying the government's sufficiency policies," Apinan said.

Aside from re-engineering, the OKMD must soon address the urgent problem of office-lease contracts. A committee was set up to evaluate the options of relocating the offices to cheaper premises or remaining at the current venues. However, Apinan said if new venues were recommended, they must remain in central Bangkok; otherwise, the units' accessibility and thus viability would be reduced. He is negotiating with Chulalongkorn University to reach long-term lease contracts for its Hi-Tech Square, at special rates.

As part of the management overhaul, the NBL will be merged with the NGT, because of overlapping work. This move was part of advice delivered by a task force that evaluated all units in January.

An independent appraiser has also been commissioned to evaluate the units' success.

"We're looking not at financial gains, but rather at non-financial gains," Apinan said. "For example, how has the TCDC helped develop the country's design industry? How many gifted children has the NGT located? We will tell the public about the answers we receive."

Apinan is confident the answers will be satisfactory.

"These are not somebody's pet projects. If they had no good, they would have been dissolved in January."

Apinan said that hopefully, the appraiser's report would pave the way for higher budgets, which are needed for relocations or extensions of lease contracts.

Meanwhile, all units have been told to think of how to make money and to seek greater cooperation with other organisations in expanding the OKMD's funding.

Apinan said the OKMD planned to expand brain-based learning to 492 state schools across the Kingdom, open 80 special libraries and work with tambon administrative organisations in opening more TK Parks upcountry.

The OKMD will also join with Thammasat University's Lampang campus, Chiang Mai University, Burapha University, Khon Kaen University and Maha Sarakham University to open mini-Thailand Creative and Design Centres upcountry, he said.

Apinan believes the lavish spending of the past can be attributed to poor management. While the OKMD was formed as a public organisation, its seven units had acted independently and adopted the parent organisation's laws when striking business contracts or procuring equipment. This spurred uncontrolled spending. While some of the units could have "shared the back office" or rented cars to reduce costs, each opted to have its own support.

Most of the units rented large offices and had fancy decorations requiring huge design and equipment costs. However, the TCDC, which has a three-year rental agreement for space rent in The Emporium, spent Bt102 million on decoration and paid Bt60 million in rent for 2005 and last year.

From now on, all contracts must be endorsed by the OKMD, Apinan said. He is certain this will streamline both management and spending. Also, he hopes this will eventually convince the public that the organisation will be cautious and controlled in its future spending - something that will keep all units in existence to benefit the Kingdom in the long term.

- The Nation

Achara Deboonme

Chularat Saengpassa