A 33-story building under construction in Bangkok, intended to house the Thai National Anti-Corruption Commission, collapsed following a magnitude 7.7 earthquake near Mandalay, Myanmar. This is the only building that collapsed in Bangkok due to the earthquake.
The discovery of substandard Chinese steel in the debris has raised significant concerns.
On Tuesday, the Bangkok Post reported that inspections of rebar recovered from the collapsed building revealed that two samples did not meet quality standards.
The building, which has been under construction near the Chatuchak Market since 2020, was intended to house the Thai National Anti-Corruption Commission. The total construction cost was 2.1 billion THB (about $61.7 million). A joint venture between China’s state-owned China Railway Engineering Corporation (CREC) and Thailand’s Italian-Thai Development (ITD) was responsible for both the construction and design. The building had recently reached its topping-out milestone and was amid interior work.
As the only building to collapse in Bangkok, there are growing suspicions that the incident points to serious issues with the construction itself, rather than just earthquake damage.
The investigation’s results have raised more alarms. The Thai Ministry of Industry’s investigation team collected 28 steel samples from the building’s debris for analysis. The findings revealed that two of these samples were substandard. What’s particularly troubling is that these steel products came from Xin Ke Yuan Steel, a Chinese steel company shut down last year due to a gas leak incident.
This factory had a history of illegally distributing over 2,400 tons of steel. It appears to have continued supplying materials despite being ordered to cease operations.
However, the investigation team emphasized, “It is difficult to determine the cause of the collapse based solely on two samples,” and stated that they are continuing to collect additional samples to conduct a more thorough investigation.
As Chinese companies have been repeatedly implicated in the building collapse, Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha has personally intervened. He stated, “This incident, which resulted in loss of life, has severely damaged Thailand’s national image,” and ordered a comprehensive investigation into all projects involving the China Railway 10th Bureau.
China Railway 10th Bureau oversees several key government construction projects, including the Bangkok-Nong Khai high-speed rail line and the National Water Resources Office building. The Prime Minister emphasized, “All buildings in Bangkok must fully comply with legal standards, with safety being the top priority.”
Meanwhile, two days after the collapse, four Chinese nationals were arrested for illegally entering the accident site on Sunday and taking documents related to construction contracts and bids. This has raised suspicions of a cover-up, further complicating the investigation into the incident.
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