(20 August) Residents in
Tawang District of Nakon Si Thammarart have complained about a bridge that already shows sign of
disrepair in spite of its young age.
Over 9 million baht was spent in building the Rames
Bridge that spans over a canal. It was opened to the public on 12 August – HM the Queen′s Birthday –
after series of construction delays.
After its inauguration ceremony, residents soon noticed
that environment around the canal starts to change for the worse, reportedly because the bridge′s
foundation blocks flows of sewage and damages the the bank soils.
The foundation of the
bridge is also visibly in poor state. Cracks can be seen in the pillars. Paste of cements were
slabbed onto some of these cracks, but the hastily-applied fixes already wore off in some places.
Many residents further complained about the uneven pillars that were supposed to be in
straight vertical lines, causing many motorists to worry for their safety as they make their way
across the bridge.
Today, Mr. Chaowasana Senpong, the governor of Nakorn Si Thammarart, said
in a conference that the officials have inspected the scene and declared the structure of the bridge
as perfectly safe.
The cracks are affecting the safety of the bridge, Mr. Chaowasana said,
while the chief public engineer told the reporters in the same press conference that the uneven
pillars also did not pose a danger to the public.
