There’s been No nonsense to a current scandal involving an 871 million baht procurement of solar-powered road lamps designed with mythical kinnaree figures by the local administration of Racha Thewa, in Samut Prakan. Sweeping measures are being introduced to make sure transparency and accountability in future such tasks. This conspicuous procurement resulted in misconduct charges being pressed towards at least forty implicated people, Bangkok Post reported.
Issaree Hunsacharoonroj, an ombudsman, expressed concern for these costly projects, stating that their worth has but to be proven.
“An investigation conducted by the Office of the Ombudsman has found there still are many native administrative organisations considering implementing comparable procurements.
“The Office of the Ombudsman, Comptroller General’s Department [CGD], State Audit Office, Department of Local Administration and Ministry of Interior have due to this fact mentioned measures to improve their accountability and transparency.”
To keep a examine on the high-value purchases of street lamps, a new, shared database of median prices will be established by the CGD for agencies to seek the advice of in the course of the implementation or inspection of such projects. Furthermore, local administrative organisations shall be required to notify the Office of the Ombudsman earlier than making any bulk orders for these items. Issaree added…
“A scientific approach will be carried out to evaluate the median prices of these sculptural avenue lamps which many native administrative organisations are interested in utilizing to reveal their local identification.”
In addition, he voiced that while these lamps are principally designed to reinforce avenue lighting after darkish, their extravagant value could be unjustified if common street lamps already suffice for this function.
Speaking of promoting tourism by showcasing local id, he advised that ornamental street lamps solely be installed judiciously, focusing on necessary elements of a road..