Ministry refuses to pay 'stupidity' fees over Khlong Dan project.

Permanent Secretary for Natural Resources and Environment, Chote Trachu, said yesterday that the Pollution Control Department wouldn't pay Bt9 billion in "stupidity fees" to a private company over the Bt23billion Khlong Dan Wastewater Management Project in Samut Prakarn and would instead counter sue NVPSKG Joint Venture.

The Arbitration Committee on January 12 ordered the department to pay the joint venture damages as well as 7.5 per cent in interest calculated from February 28, 2003, which amounts to Bt9 billion. Chote said the fees were "stupid" because the project contract was invalid right from the beginning, adding that the country's money should not be spent on things like this. The department also issued a letter objecting to the Arbitration Committee's decision and sent related documents to the Permanent Secretary for Finance on February 2 - within 90 days as allowed by law.

The department has asked the Office of AttorneyGeneral for legal guidelines because it aims to file a civil lawsuit saying that the Arbitration Committee's ruling went against the criminal court's verdict that corruption existed in the project and the involved politician and state officials had been punished. The department will also file a lawsuit against NVPSKG Joint Venture at the Civil Court seeking billions of baht in compensation because the project had unnecessarily been put on hold for a decade.
The department had sought Bt12 million from the Central Budget to carry out a sixmonth operation to assess damages and seek rehabilitation solutions, he said, adding that the assessment would be used in the lawsuit.