Bangkok State Audit Office to be rebuilt but not on the deadly ruins
The Deputy Auditor General has confirmed plans to push ahead with building a new State Audit Office but it will be moved away from the exact spot where tragedy struck when an unfinished government complex came crashing down during a powerful earthquake last month, killing 23 workers and trapping dozens more beneath the rubble.
The Auditor General’s Office, still under construction at the time, was reduced to rubble after a 7.7-magnitude quake struck Myanmar and sent violent tremors through Bangkok, causing the partially built structure to collapse in seconds.
Twenty-three workers lost their lives, and over 70 remain trapped beneath the debris, with rescue operations still ongoing. The disaster has cast a long shadow over the integrity of government infrastructure projects and raised serious questions about oversight and safety in public construction.
Speaking to the House Committee on Judicial Affairs and Independent Organisations, Deputy Auditor General Suttipong Bunnith said the project will go ahead, but with major changes, reported Channel 7 News.
“The new Auditor General building will not be constructed over the collapsed area. We’ll shift the location forward on the same plot. Safety is the top priority.”
He also revealed that the budget will remain under 2 billion baht, and the new design will favour standard air-conditioning systems to avoid unnecessary complications.
“Simple systems are easier to fix and we’ll ensure the latest construction technologies are used to prevent this kind of disaster ever happening again.”
The original building had been part of a large-scale government complex, meant to house Thailand’s top financial watchdog. But before the final steel beams could be bolted into place, the quake, one of the strongest felt in Thailand in recent years, sent the structure tumbling down in a horrifying scene that shocked the nation.
Critics have slammed the project as a catastrophic failure of both engineering and accountability, a tragic irony for a building meant to hold the very office responsible for auditing public spending.
With grief still raw and investigations ongoing, public pressure is mounting for full transparency. Officials now face the colossal task of not just rebuilding the structure but restoring faith in the system it represents.
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