He recognized the public criticism and said that the SAO had hired an external architectural company to design the building and monitor the construction. He insisted that the company had confirmed that the structure of seismic activities should withstand.
Justification for the building size and the personnel requirements
Sutthipong spoke to a public misunderstanding about the size of the building. While many believed that the SAO only had 500 employees, he made it clear that the office started around 4,000 employees and thus justified the need for a high -rise structure.
He added that the employees were now disappointed that the new office building would not be completed in the near future.
Sao was initially not aware of the Chinese joint venture
Sutthipong admitted that the SAO initially believed that the contractor was Italian-Thai development (ITD) without knowing that he had entered a joint venture with China Railway No. 10 Engineering Group (CREC).
He said the ITD-Rec-Joint Venture was freed from ITD during the tendering process, and the SAO did not know until later the participation of Crec. The tendering procedure followed the provisions of the Compatroller General of the Ministry of the Competroller Department Department, and 16 companies gave suggestions.
ITD-CREC won the offer and the SAO found no signs of BID Collusion. The winner confirmed that they were able to complete the project at the proposed costs.
Architectic company that was selected by competitive bids
The draft contract was awarded to a joint venture between Forum Architect and Meinhardt (Thailand) for 73 million baht after three companies were responded to invitations that were sent to 24.
Construction delays and termination of the contract
The construction, which will originally be completed within three years, was extended twice. After four years, only 33% of the project was concluded due to the contractor's liquidity problems.
On January 15, 2025, the SAO inspection committee decided to terminate the contract. The termination process was underway when the building collapsed on March 28th.
Private investigation into sensitive questions
After hearing the first testimony, the committee chairman reported reporter to leave the meeting room when the committee started a session with closed doors to discuss sensitive affairs in connection with the collapse.