CityNews – The construction company who is responsible for Highway 118 (Chiang Mai-Chiang Rai) is facing a hundred million baht fine for not meeting the project deadline.
Chiang Mai Civil United Engineering Co., Ltd. was given the contract to develop Highway 118 (Chiang Mai-Chiang Rai) between kms 42 and 51, with a total distance of 9.25 km. It is a contract between the company and the Chiang Mai Highway Department 2 which started in March 14th 2017 and ended on December 3rd 2018. The budget is set at 634.5 million baht.
On January 9th, a representative of the company who wishes to remain anonymous stated that now around 60% of the construction is completed, and the rest is estimated to finish before Songkran Festival in April.
The company has been fined for being overdue since December 26th 2018 with the rate of 1.5 million baht per day. And by April the figure is estimated to go up to at least 100 million baht.
Maitree Utthapreyanghkul, the project manager explained the issues they have faced. One is the flash floods in August which did major damages to the road, and forced the construction to freeze for several days. There has also been issues with authorities regarding protected woods such as teak in the area of construction, electrical poles that needed to be moved and the expropriation of land which was delayed by local authorities.
However, the Chiang Mai Highway Department has reserved their rights to fine the company with a possible contract extension reportedly under consideration.