Court orders Aetas demolition
Hotel’s top floors have to go within 30 days
The upper storeys of the Aetas Hotel are set to be demolished after an eight-year battle over building height regulations.
The Central Administrative Court yesterday ordered the Pathumwan district office chief and the Bangkok governor to quickly enforce the demolition.
This came after a group of Soi Ruam Rudi residents petitioned the court on Aug 3, asking it to force the officials to comply with the Supreme Administrative Court’s demolition order of Oct 30, 2014.
The case goes back to 2008, when 24 residents lodged a complaint with the Administrative Court, accusing former Pathumwan district chief Surakiat Limcharoen and former Bangkok governor Apirak Kosayodhin of negligence of duty in approving the project, given that Soi Ruam Rudi is too narrow to accommodate such tall buildings.
Residents claim the building damages the environment, causes dangerous traffic congestion and exposes the community to greater risk in the event of an emergency such as a fire.
Under the Building Control Act, a structure higher than 23 metres, or eight floors, cannot be built on a road which is less than 10m wide. Such narrow roads can prevent fire trucks from reaching a highrise.
The Central Administrative Court in 2012 found the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration guilty, saying it wrongly allowed the construction to go forward.
However, the defendants, who included the building contractors — Lappratan Co Ltd and Taptimthorn Co Ltd — appealed against the ruling to the Supreme Administrative Court, which upheld the original finding in 2014. The judge gave the Bangkok governor and Pathumwan district office 60 days to oversee the demolition.
After the 2014 ruling, residents said City Hall ordered the project owners to suspend all the buildings’ modifications; to modify the buildings in accordance with the Building Control Act 1979; and to prohibit people from entering the buildings.
However, no progress has been made on the demolition of the structures which are higher than 23m. The Aetas Hotel has 24 floors and its serviced apartment building nearby has 18 floors.
According to yesterday’s court order, the Pathumwan district office chief and the Bangkok governor have powers in accordance with the Building Control Act 1979 to order the buildings’ owners to demolish or remove parts of the buildings in a specified time frame, but in no less than 30 days.
If the owners fail to comply with the order, the officials can lodge complaints with a court to have the owners arrested and proceed with the demolition with owners responsible for the expense. The handling of the issue must be expedited, according to the court.
The court said although the Pathumwan district office’s chief ordered the suspension of further construction and declared the buildings off-limits, which is in line with the court’s ruling, their responsibility in line with the order is still not complete and their enforcement is being delayed.
Citing claims that the buildings’ owners have appealed against the demolition with an appeal panel under the Building Control Act 1979 and that the demolition should wait for the panel’s ruling, the court said the appeal was not initiated by the district office’s chief and the governor, who must follow the Supreme Administrative Court’s order. The court however said the chief of the district office and the governor were not found to have intended to avoid or delay the enforcement of the order and that the court will still not fine them or report the issue to their superiors or the premier for further disciplinary action.
In April, the buildings’ owners sued the district chief and the governor for failing to reclaim a space said to have encroached on public land in Soi Ruam Rudi, which they claimed caused the soi to be less than 10m wide. They noted they have new evidence on the encroachment and the Supreme Administrative Court had taken up the case for consideration, which they said may subsequently affect the enforcement of the demolition.
The court said such claims are only the owners’ guess, and this cannot go against the Supreme Administrative Court’s 2014 ruling, which found that Soi Ruam Rudi is less than 10m wide. Petitions made by the owners for suspension of the demolition are not sound, the court said.
The court also ordered its Bureau of Decisions Execution to stringently enforce the order and reported progress on the matter to the court.
If the district office chief and the governor are found to have neglected to comply with the court’s order or made excessively slow progress in its enforcement, the court may fine them 50,000 baht for each breach and report them to their superiors or the prime minister to take legal action against them, according to the court.
Chaloempong Klabdee, a lawyer from the Foundation for Consumers acting on behalf of the residents, said he will wait and see how the Pathumwan district office’s chief and the Bangkok governor will respond to the order.
Surachet Worawongwasu, managing director of Aetas Management Co, which runs the Aetas Hotel, said he has not yet received the court order. He declined to comment about the order, saying he needs to consult with his lawyers first.