Courtesy: Bangkok Post



Bangkok Futsal Arena

26/12/2012

The Bangkok Futsal Arena in Nong Chok district was hurriedly built for the Fifa Futsal World Cup 2012 that Thailand hosted from Nov 1 to 18.

When the time came to inspect the building, Fifa rejected the stadium, turning it into an arena for a grudge match between the ruling Pheu Thai Party and the opposition Democrat Party.

Pheu Thai's stinging strikers Prompong Nopparit and Jirayu Huangsap, attacked Bangkok governor MR Sukhumbhand Paribatra, a Democrat, for embarrassing Thailand.

They also called for an investigation looking into possible corruption during the stadium's construction.

On March 26, 2010, Fifa, the international football governing organisation, officially supported Bangkok in organising the Futsal world cup.

Thailand initially proposed to use Impact Arena in Nonthaburi and the Indoor Stadium in Bangkok's Hua Mak area, but Fifa rejected them for their lack of spectator capacity and services.

The Football Association of Thailand then asked the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) to build a new stadium to meet Fifa's standards.

The BMA selected an area in Nong Chok for the arena and hired King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi to design the stadium.

It was planned to be the largest futsal stadium in Thailand meeting international standards, with 12,500 seats perched on five-storey stands, a 34-metre-high roof and a parking area for 800 vehicles.

Red tape, however, delayed cabinet approval for the 1.3-billion-baht project, for which the government was to be the sole source of funding.

Severe flooding in late 2011 postponed the signing of the construction contract. EMC Plc, the BMA's contractor, drove the arena's first pile on Jan 26, 2012 _ only nine months before the Futsal World Cup kick-off.

But public attention really intensified in October, when Fifa opted to move the World Cup opening ceremony and the first match from the new, still incomplete arena to Hua Mark stadium.

Fifa said the new arena would host its first match on Nov 14, during the quarter-final stage of the tournament.

MR Sukhumbhand and City Hall executives spent the next several weeks trying to convince the public the stadium would be ready in time for the new deadline of Oct 21.

But as the deadline approached, the BMA failed to lay the pitch flooring, citing problems with the import of flooring material from the US. Fifa agreed to push the deadline, yet again, to Oct 29.

On the eve of the judgement day, workers toiled non-stop for 18 hours covering the playing field with alternative imported wood parquet, and finished the flooring a few hours before Fifa officials arrived for the final inspection.

Following their inspection, on Nov 6 Fifa officials said the arena would not be used due to safety concerns.

The futsal arena became a scandal and dealt a serious blow to MR Sukhumbhand.

Pheu Thai Party was quick to use the arena as a tool to discredit the Democrat Party.

On Nov 14, Pheu Thai's Jirayu Huangsap asked the National Anti-Corruption Committee to investigate MR Sukhumbhand and Bangkok deputy governor Teerachon Manomaiphibul.

He claimed the BMA leadership was wrong to contract the EMC to build the stadium rather than a much larger contractor which could have done the work faster.

Mr Jirayu also claimed that MR Sukhumbhand and Mr Teerachon suspiciously changed the design of the stadium, concealed information about the stadium from the public, and deployed the BMA's own workforce and equipment to help EMC accelerate the construction free of charge.

The BMA has yet to settle extra costs incurred when the contractor was forced to pay about 100 million baht for additional workers and equipment to speed up construction.






Posted by Luca Ranocchiari --> luca.ranocchiari@futsalplanet.com