The sinkhole which opened up on Rama IV Road late Sunday evening has authorities in Bangkok baffled. Officials from the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) are now disregarding the first theory that the sinkhole was caused by a leak in the four-decade old drainage tunnel under the road.
With the help of a remote controlled robot equipped with a CCTV camera, pump trucks, 50 officials and workers, the Department of Drainage and sewerage inspected a 105-meter section of waste drainage pipe under Rama IV Road but found no leaks or cracks. Mud and water was drained out of the pipe to allow the robot to do its job.
To check a section of Rama IV Road from Lumpini tower to Wireless intersection officials from the BMA used a rented ground-penetrating radar (GPR). Deputy Bangkok Governor Theerachon Manomiapibul led the inspection along the 400-meter stretch of road. The GPR didn’t show anything abnormal apart from the section of road around the sinkhole was the only area without reinforced concrete.
The Engineering Institute of Thailand has been drafted in to try and solve the sinkhole problem. Their results as to what caused the cave-in will be released in two weeks according to The Nation.
The BMA will investigate if the contractor hired is at fault. If work carried out by the contractor and any repair work done is deemed to be substandard, the firm would be put on a BMA blacklist and would not be given any future work by City Hall, the deputy governor said to The Bangkok Post. He has also asked all 50 district offices to check their roads.
The GPR was such a hit the city is looking into buying one for THB6 million (US$195,060). No word on how much they paid for the robot.
