Posted on 08/08/2005 7:38:06 PM PDT by JimSEA
Thaksin, Chainant say airport problem-free
team of US aviation experts is insisting that both runways at Suvarnabhumi airport need reconstruction as there are severe cracks that are large enough to sink the nose wheel of an aircraft, according to an aviation source.
They are also not tiny cracks on runway shoulders that the deputy transport minister showed to reporters, the source said.
But Deputy Transport Minister Chainant Charoensiri and Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra deny there is a problem.
The source said yesterday that the serious cracks were at the ``touchdown'' points of both the western and eastern runways of the new and now-delayed Suvarnabhumi airport.
The American experts, reportedly brought in by the prime minister to give him an independent assessment, recommended the complete reconstruction of the two runways because there was a range of possible factors that could have caused the large cracks.
The source said Mr Thaksin had unofficially invited the team of the US experts to the airport construction site in Samut Prakan province especially to examine the cracks which were not the small ones on the runway shoulders that Gen Chainant brought reporters to inspect on Sunday.
The team of experts arrived last Tuesday, examined the runways and have already finished their report.
The experts recommended in their report, which will be submitted to Mr Thaksin soon, complete reconstruction since repairing them, though possible, would make the airport runways unacceptable internationally. The US experts have already left Bangkok.
But the prime minister yesterday dismissed the crack report.
Mr Thaksin said they were actually gaps on roads inside the airport, not on any runways. The gaps were prepared for adjoining blocks of road surface to contract and expand at different temperatures. He likened the gaps to those filled with asphalt on normal roads.
``I confirm that there is not a problem at all. Everything is fine. Believe me. If there is something, I will tell you. Don't worry that our nation is that bad or under-developed. There's nothing. Don't worry. Be calm. I will see to it well. It is about the national reputation,'' he said.
Mr Thaksin said he would also welcome the opposition to examine the airport for transparency over the issue.
Gen Chainant insisted yesterday there were only cracks which occurred due to a technical process on the shoulder of the western runway.
He said ground improvement was going on next to the western runway to prepare for the construction of taxi-ways to adjoin the third runway to be built in the future.
In the process, according to him, sand and gravel are dumped to compress soil on the airport site which is on swampy ground so the original soil will be firm enough for future taxi-way construction. As the compressed soil subsides, cracks are expected to occur normally and have appeared on the adjacent western runway shoulder.
Gen Chainant confirmed that the cracked runway shoulder would be removed and rebuilt later, and that there were no cracks on either of the completed runways.
Opposition leader Abhisit Vejjajiva yesterday demanded the government clarify the runway issue. He complained about inconsistencies in previous accounts by relevant government officials about the reported cracks.
He also said that, based on a remark from an expert whom he had talked to, cracks on the runways should have nothing to do with any construction technique.
``The government should not evade the question in a hurry as that will affect credibility. It should pause and explain clearly where the cracks are, whether they are normal and how they will be corrected,'' said the Democrat party leader.
In another development, Gen Chainant revealed yesterday the installation of the airport information management (Aim) system was a major factor delaying the airport's completion.
Since I don't have to, I'll laugh for you =)
A 250,000 kg jumbo jet having a hard landing would exert well in excess of that weight on the small area of the footprint of the tires. That is a lot of kg/sq m. This is why the runway cannot have any defects in it, especially in the touchdown zone.
Knowing what I know about the geology there, I am not at all surprised. Serious compaction and soils engineering would have been needed in order to prevent settling problems.
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