There’s been a response to a recent scandal involving an 871 million baht procurement of solar-powered street lamps designed with mythical kinnaree figures by the local administration of Racha Thewa, in Samut Prakan. Sweeping measures are being introduced to ensure transparency and accountability in future such initiatives. Unique resulted in misconduct costs being pressed towards a minimal of forty implicated people, Bangkok Post reported.
Issaree Hunsacharoonroj, an ombudsman, expressed concern for these costly projects, stating that their worth has but to be confirmed.
“An investigation performed by the Office of the Ombudsman has found there nonetheless are many native administrative organisations considering implementing similar procurements.
“The Office of the Ombudsman, Comptroller General’s Department [CGD], State Audit Office, Department of Local Administration and Ministry of Interior have therefore mentioned measures to enhance their accountability and transparency.”
To maintain a examine on the high-value purchases of road lamps, a new, shared database of median costs shall be established by the CGD for companies to seek the assistance of during the implementation or inspection of such tasks. Furthermore, native 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 strategy will be carried out to assess the median prices of these sculptural road lamps which many native administrative organisations are thinking about using to demonstrate their native identity.”
In addition, he voiced that whereas these lamps are principally designed to boost street lighting after darkish, their extravagant price could be unjustified if common avenue lamps already suffice for this purpose.
Speaking of selling tourism by showcasing native identification, he advised that decorative street lamps solely be put in judiciously, focusing on essential elements of a street..