BANGKOK (Jan 16): Thailand's Transport Ministry on Friday ordered a 15-day construction halt on 14 contracts involving Italian-Thai Development PCL as well as other large-scale projects overseen by the ministry, as it conducts safety inspections after two fatal crane accidents in two days. The halt to the 14 projects would allow expert teams to conduct detailed inspections to ensure safety standards were being met, said Chirapong Theppithuck, deputy permanent secretary of the Transport Ministry. The two projects are an elevated highway near Bangkok and the building of concrete structures for a stretch of an elevated high-speed rail line in the northeast that will connect Thailand with China through Laos. Southeast Asia's second-biggest economy is in the middle of a massive infrastructure boom, building highways and high-speed rail lines across the country and expanding its elevated rail network in Bangkok. The government last year said the whole high-speed rail line from Bangkok to Nong Khai at the border with Laos would be finished by 2030.

Source: The Edge Markets January 16, 2026 12:06 UTC