Bangkok has long been criticized for the disorganized cables, communication lines and power lines that are laid throughout the city. Even New Zealand actor Russell Ira Crowe sarcastically posted a picture of the wires in 2021 with the caption “Bangkok dreaming…”. Finally, Thailand’s capital city begins to solve the problem.
Bangkok Governor Chadchart Sittipunt, together with Wisanu Subsompon, Deputy Governor of Bangkok, on Monday checked on the progress of organising communication lines with the organisations involved, such as the Metropolitan Electricity Authority (MEA), the Office of The National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC), the National Telecom Public Company Limited (NT), and the two major telecommunications companies AIS and True Corp (True-DTAC). The first phase covers an area of 11 kilometres on Charoen Krung Road.
Chadchart said that MEA used to plan to underground power lines on a length of 230 kilometers, while Bangkok aimed to underground power lines on a total length of 2,000 kilometers. However, they faced high investment costs and time-consuming processes in bringing communication lines underground.
The team then decided to start by organizing only the communication lines, cutting the messy wires and cleaning up the rest. This approach requires significantly less budget and time. However, Chadchart emphasized that Bangkok cannot just cut any communication lines, as these wires are under the control of NBTC and the telecom companies, while the power towers belong to MEA. Therefore, Bangkok must work with all stakeholders.
Wisanu added that from now on MEA will ensure that the new communication cables are registered before they are connected to the tower, so that it can be easily determined which cable belongs to whom and unauthorized cables can be avoided, making all cables more organized.
Wisanu then explained the plan that will start with the 4 kilometers on Charoen Krung Road, which will take about 1 month. After that, the Sala Daeng neighborhood will be tackled, also focusing on Soi Convent and Soi Phiphat.
After that, Bangkok will take care of Sukhumvit Road. Wisanu stressed that Bangkok has already finished organizing cables in Soi 13. They will start organizing communication cables in Soi 11, 15, 17, 19 and 36 in July.
