High-cost criticism sinks BMA flood gear plan
Aswin says he pulled plug after seeing price
Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) governor Pol Gen Aswin Kwanmuang yesterday cancelled a City Hall plan to spend 50 million baht to purchase flood waders and uniform shirts for BMA officers after the scheme was criticised for being too costly.
Pol Gen Aswin yesterday said he rejected the purchase plan on Monday because he concurred the project was overpriced. The purchase plan had been leaked on Monday by the Isra online news agency.
According to Isra, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha had inspected the flood management system at the Phra Khanong pumping station and mentioned the officials’ uniforms did not bear the BMA logo, while some were not wearing adequate protective gear.
The report also said the governor had assigned one of his deputies to find a way to get the budget for the protective gear approved.
But during a press conference yesterday at City Hall, the governor said he learned of the project on Monday after the BMA’s finance department had sought his approval to buy 200,000 shirts and 1,000 sets of waders and flood protection gear worth a combined 50.8 million baht.
“I thought the price was too high, so I did not approve it,” Pol Gen Aswin said.
The BMA’s plan to buy 200,000 shirts at 248 baht apiece, totalling 49.6 million baht, and another 1,000 sets of waterproof waders at 1,200 baht per set, totalling 1.2 million baht, was criticised by the public for being too costly.
Pol Gen Aswin said while the BMA’s finance department had noted the price per item was unchanged from a previous deal in 2015, he agreed the cost was too high.
“When the finance department submitted the proposal, I did not look at the details. When I saw the prices, I rejected the purchase plan straight away because 248 baht for a shirt is too expensive,” he said.
“I used to buy similar shirts for the Cadet Academy sports day for less than 200 baht a piece. If the buyers can get the price to 170-180 baht, we can talk,” he added.
Asked whether the items that the BMA had bought in 2015 were still usable, Pol Gen Aswin said they might be too old.
He said he did not care if the leak was meant to discredit him.
“I’m not a politician. The leakage of news is in fact useful because the public now knows that [the purchase plan was rejected because] the price was too expensive,” said Pol Gen Aswin.