Bangkok CCTV Budget Bloated at 727 Million Baht
A Bangkok councilor questioned whether the city's 727.6 million baht CCTV expansion budget contains inflated costs, alleging fiber optic cables and installation labor are quoted at roughly double market rates while the procurement avoids us
The Dusit district councilor Akkarachai Kanthamala raised concerns at a Bangkok Metropolitan Assembly meeting on August 3, 2026, over the city's CCTV budget totaling 727.6 million baht, which covers maintenance, procurement, and installation across 922 new cameras. Kanthamala alleged that fiber optic cable prices were quoted at 39 baht per meter when retail prices for standard brands are only 20 baht, and installation labor was priced at 58 baht per meter when standard rates suggest 30 baht per meter—roughly double the fair market rate.
The councilor also flagged the procurement of 4,138 bare CCTV cameras in two price categories (2,200 units at 22,000 baht and 1,938 units at 5,700 baht each) without installation services, totaling 66.3 million baht. He noted that the winning bidding company offers full installation services but the city chose not to use them, and questioned why an AI video analysis system was being reprocured when a similar 9.37 million baht detection system was already funded in the previous year's budget.
Kanthamala expressed concern that in the 2025 budget round, only four companies bid, and one that had failed qualification criteria in the prior year reappeared in 2026—a company with three consecutive years of losses operating in engineering consulting rather than CCTV retail. He emphasized that security depends on transparency, and that public tax money must be spent fairly so citizens can trust the system and public confidence in CCTV surveillance is upheld.
