The Council of Engineers (CoE) has waded into the row over a second terminal at Suvarnabhumi airport, saying the proposed new facility is "poorly located" and that the existing building should be expanded upon.
If the new 42-billion-baht terminal, set to be built between Concourse A and Thai Airways' maintenance centre goes ahead, the airport will shoulder a wide-ranging impact on infrastructure, transport and facilities, it said.
Above all, the airport may need to "compromise its services and could lose credibility", deputy council chairman Krai Tungsanga said yesterday as he petitioned the premier via the state complaint centre at Government House.
The engineering group is the latest to comment on the controversy after government anti-corruption committee member and ex-Airport of Thailand (AoT) board member Tortrakul Yomnak voiced concern over the plan.
Besides the CoE, the Architects Council of Thailand has also blasted the AoT for veering away from the original Suvarnabhumi master plan drafted in 1990.
The plan foresaw the construction of only two terminals -- the existing northern terminal and an identical southern one.
However, the AoT's latest master plan -- the fifth -- hastily included the construction of a new terminal to keep up with increasing passenger numbers somewhere else.
Mr Tortrakul said expansions should really be done at both ends of the existing terminal rather constructing a new one.
Mr Krai said changes can be made only after a new round of impact studies and opinions from the experts.
"The proposed construction is in the wrong place," he said.
Though the masterplan can be adjusted, it should be made in a way that improves on the old one, he said.
"We believe the prime minister should listen to us because we are a professional group that cares for this nation," Mr Krai said.
