absolutelyBangkok archive · Property & Investment
Originally published Dec. 9, 2009
Here’s an interesting open letter to the governor of Bangkok, “Building Nightmare on Sukhumvit,” written by our regular contributor Vongthip Chumpani, an ardent supporter of the new order.
The letter was recently published in The Nation’s Letter to the Editors section, raising the issue of the Sukhumvit area’s over-building and over-crowding.
Khun Vongthip sure has some points. But what was first, the chicken or the egg. See? To abide by the law and being a good citizen can only help you so much in this town. Or are we suggesting a changing of the guard?! Here we go:
Sir
As a good citizen and a law-abiding taxpayer in the last 45 years, I believe I can trust you to help the people in Soi Prommitr with this most distressful case.
For over 40 years, I have been living at (…) Soi Prommitr, Sukhumvit 39, directly opposite Prommitr Ban Paew Hospital. Right next to the hospital is a piece of vacant land, the size of about one rai. Twelve years ago, the former land owner started to construct a 32 storeys building to house 137 condos and 200 cars, on a soi that is only 4 meters wide.
The project owner was sued for construction damages and lost. Now it is reported that the land has been sold a few months ago to a new owner whose name(s) are unknown except for a nominee company’s name. The new developers have started the construction in earnest on Dec. 2, 2009, with all the accompanying noise and other pollution impacts that are causing nightmares for the neighborhood.
In view of the above, some residents of Soi Prommitr have now become more than furious. They are gathering signatures to petition the Bangkok governor to investigate the fact that the Construction Supervision Department of the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (
BMA) has extended (for the 12th and last time this year) the construction permit for this giant building on Soi Prommitr. Clearly, this could not possibly be in compliance with the current building laws and environmental regulations.
With the ongoing construction of high-risers with 20 to 40 stories in the Sukhumvit area (over 20 of them on Sukhumvit 39 and some 20 more on Sukhumvit 49), the people on Soi Prommitr have been suffering silently for years from heavy all-day traffic jams (short cut from Soi 39 to Soi 49), deep floods after heavy rains, burst water pipes and clogged drainage, blackouts from exploded electricity mains, not to mention the thundering cement and construction trucks that could hardly squeezed their way into our soi but have managed to shake and break most of the houses that they passed by!
It is also worth noting that all these high-risers have remained mostly empty because there is no longer any buying interest. Former rich foreigners can no longer afford to buy properties anywhere for speculation!
It would do well for BMA to reconsider their liberal approval of high-rise buildings in the Sukhumvit area. The BTS will not be able to accommodate all the new passengers and it will take over one hour to go from the Emporium to Ploenchit Road!
If BMA does not do something about this, Sukhumvit will be in a bigger mess and their residents will certainly hesitate to vote for the Democrat Party again.
From the absolutelyBangkok archive. Back to all stories