It's time for City Hall to clear up some facts with Fifa

ARENA DEFENCE

In the last few days, there has been a great deal of confusion concerning the construction of the Bangkok Futsal Arena (BFA) in Nong Chok district by the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA). Perhaps these facts will help clear up some of that confusion.

The Bangkok Futsal Arena (BFA) failed to win Fifa approval after its completion was delayed by 16 days.

FACT: The government's final approval for the BMA to proceed with the 1.2 billion baht construction project was given on Nov 25, 2011, along with an [initial] budget allocation of one million baht in the 2011 fiscal year. There was no budget allocation at all for the 2012 fiscal year [and the remaining budget was paid in the 2013 fiscal year].

FACT: The BMA in practice could not proceed with the project immediately because all its institutional, administrative and manpower energies had to be directed towards flood relief and, afterwards, post-flood cleaning and garbage collecting operations.

FACT: After encountering difficulties finding a construction firm willing to take the job in the face of obvious time constraints, a construction contract was not signed until Jan 13 this year, and the foundation stone was laid 11 days later.

FACT: The government-approved design of the BFA called for the construction of a very large stadium covering 10 rai, or nearly 2 hectares, of land, with 30,000 square metres of usable space and without central supporting pillars.

The schedule for the stadium's completion was April 2013, but it was understood the stadium was to be made ready to host the Futsal World Cup in 270 days.

FACT: It was completed in 286 days, at midnight on Nov 6, just 16 days behind schedule. Many experts do not consider that unreasonable for a building so large and difficult to build. The only parts which did not meet our understanding with Fifa were the VIP and Royal rooms, which were completed on Nov 8. For all intents and purposes the stadium was made ready for match play a full week before the first World Cup matches were to be played there on Nov 14.

The problem was that FIFA chose to have its final inspection on the morning of Nov 5.

FACT: The BMA has not been officially notified by Fifa about their decision not to use the stadium. We can only surmise from the press release, which was released in Zurich on Nov 6, that security and safety were two of the main concerns.

FACT: The BMA has the legal authority to certify the safety of all buildings.

FACT: When Fifa asked for documents related to the safety of the stadium and spectators, the BMA chose not to exercise this authority and, instead, asked the Engineering Institute of Thailand under Royal Patronage to conduct its own survey. The results of this were given to and formally received by Fifa, along with other relevant documents, on Nov 5.

FACT: Where safety precautions for spectators are concerned, between Oct 18 and Nov 5 this year, Fifa asked for modifications to the spectator stands, which the BMA duly carried out.

All the additional modifications that were asked for on the morning of the Nov 5 inspection, including others not related to the stands, were completed on the morning of Nov 6.

FACT: During the Nov 5 inspection, Fifa asked the BMA to gather 600 volunteers to engage in an evacuation exercise. The 600 people were evacuated in just 3 minutes 40 seconds, below the accepted standard time of 5 minutes 40 seconds.

FACT: The BMA endeavoured to act in good faith throughout its partnership with Fifa. This was best demonstrated in the case of the futsal playing surface.

In June 2012, the BMA placed an order for the playing surface with a company in Illinois, USA, in accordance with Fifa's own specifications and instructions.

Hua Mak Indoor Stadium made a similar order in September this year, but they received their surface before the BMA in a direct shipment from the US, despite placing their order three months later than us. The BMA's shipment was supposed to arrive on Oct 20, but was then postponed to Oct 25.

It then transpired that the shipment was not direct from the US, and had ended up in China, where BMA officials were forced to step in and try to bring it into Thailand. For reasons still not known, the officials lost contact with the shippers and could not secure the shipment.

In the meantime, the BMA tried to secure a backup and ordered a new playing surface from Malaysia and Taiwan. Fifa then advised us to buy an Italian-made one, so we ordered that as well.

After the two orders were made, Fifa informed us on Nov 1 that the US-made, China-diverted shipment would arrive in Bangkok on Nov 3. So by Nov 4 the BMA had on its hands three different, and very expensive, futsal pitches.

Fifa then asked us to use the American one, and we duly complied, completing the task of laying down the surface before the Nov 5 inspection.

Luckily, several generous donors stepped in, and the BMA did not have to pick up the almost 20 million baht bill for the other two pitches, which will now be used for our youth sports centres.

The BMA acknowledges its shortcomings in making the stadium ready for match play later than first intended. But the delay was no more than 16 days, and the main cause of the severe time constraints was the flooding in 2011, an "act of God" which no one had foreseen or could wish away.

Despite these, and other, constraints, the BMA worked hard to fulfil its commitment, as shown by the facts above.

We regret our shortcomings, but still believe in the power of our good faith.

We are down but not out.

Often clouds have silver linings. One good thing that has come out of all this is that the people of Bangkok have a great multi-purpose stadium to play and watch sports in, plus three international-standard futsal surfaces to play on. Another is that the episode serves as a reminder that, like politics, international sports can be a cut-throat affair.

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MR Sukhumbhand Paribatra is governor of Bangkok.

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Article source: http://www.thethailandlinks.com/2012/11/11/its-time-for-city-hall-to-clear-up-some-facts-with-fifa/