Mr. Chadchart Sittipunt, Governor of Bangkok, listened to the presentation of the results of data verification of the pilot provincial CoST project for Phase 2 at Amarin Room, Bangkok City Hall, Giant Swing.
Infrastructure Transparency Initiative: CoST is a project initiated by the Department for International Development of the United Kingdom. Currently, there are 19 member countries. CoST has been in operation since fiscal year 2015. For this reason, the British Embassy in Thailand recognizes the importance of implementing the CoST project in Thailand. Therefore, budget support has been provided through the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) to create a project to promote the implementation of the CoST project at the provincial level for fiscal year 2023. To promote transparency and create public participation in construction projects of government agencies. and the Anti-Corruption Cooperation Committee (CCC), Bangkok, Sakon Nakhon Province, and Suphanburi Province have been selected as pilot provinces.
CoST at the provincial level “Bangkok” for the fiscal year 2023 revealed information that there were 25 participating projects. Currently, 22 projects have disclosed information, and 3 projects that have not yet disclosed information on the CoST system. The fiscal year 2023 is the 20th average disclosure, compared to the 75th average disclosure in fiscal year 2022.
Mr. Chadchart Sittipunt, Governor of Bangkok, revealed that transparency is a top priority of the policy because it builds trust with citizens and increases work efficiency. CoST is an international project involving many agencies including the Comptroller General’s Department, the Anti-Corruption Organization, the British Embassy, and UNDP. It is the disclosure of information in the construction and government procurement process so that the public can access information. Bangkok is fully committed to adding more than 50 participating projects next year. We aim to be a province where information disclosure is in a single number. We will take transparency in all dimensions seriously and allow citizens to participate in joint investigations.
“The heart is Traffy Fondue. In the past, citizens have filed more than 500,000 complaints. Therefore, if there is anything that we would like Bangkok to do. If you improve or find any non-transparency, you can report it. We will closely follow and implement this information. If it is construction work in the area, you can contact the staff on site. We will develop a QR Code that will provide information to the public. Everything comes from public taxes and we are happy to serve the people. We all have to take care of each other to make this city better,” he said.
