The sixth assurance report of CoST Thailand was recently published with open information from more than 100 public infrastructure projects.
The report was published by the Multi-Stakeholder Group following completion by the Assurance Team contracted by CoST Thailand from Kasetsart University and includes overall data disclosure of approximately 87.78% across 702 projects from central and local government, state enterprises and more on areas such as amenities and public facilities; roads and bridges; buildings and museums; public utilities; irrigation works and more.
The highest rate of performance was 98.62% in the province of Phayao, while the Ministry of Industry and independent agencies had disclosed information at the highest rate of 93.55%.
Thailand has been a member of CoST since 2015 and has disclosed data on 2,118 projects with a total budget of 235,065 million baht (around 6.6 million US dollars). By opening public procurement through disclosure, on the CoST Thailand information platform, government registered a saving of approximately 11.92% of the budget across 2,025 projects.
The results showed that 86.33% of the public believed that the projects were worthwhile and efficient and 85.58% of the public had confidence in the project’s level transparency and were satisfied with engagements on the projects up to 79.39%.
The methods of engagement with the public regarding conflict handling on the projects were weak up 46.81% while the public was satisfied up to 74.71 on the level of procuring entity’s responsiveness on problems associated with the projects.
At project level, the results highlighted that most projects had been delayed and the entities lacked progress reports and updated workplans from the contractors, while others lacked a clear handover process post completion regarding the project benefits to the communities.
Some projects lacked quality controls on construction materials, health and safety controls, effective supervision which affected construction quality, lack of manpower on site and concerns regarding value for money.
Thailand is using technology to drive development in the country. The Infrastructure Transparency Initiative (CoST) is considered one of the tools that uses information to ensure transparency.
The Assurance results have been discussed with the Government and respective entities who have committed to improve road and traffic control; lighting; safety measures; medical services; training; wastewater management and relationships with the public. Our team at CoST Thailand will continue supporting Government and closely follow up action on the assurance results and government commitments.