Suphanat revealed a new ministry regulation closing the loophole for government contract cancellations: if a contractor causes injury or death to the public, it is immediately considered "abandoning work."
On 30 July 2026, Mr. Suphanat Meenachainan, a Member of Parliament for the People’s Party, announced a significant legal breakthrough after the Comptroller General's Department published a new ministry regulation in the Government Gazette. The regulation adds the condition that "causing harm to the life, body, or property of the public" qualifies as "abandoning work," enabling the government to cancel contracts and blacklist contractors immediately when serious construction accidents occur.
Previously, even when major construction accidents caused numerous deaths or injuries, the government could not cancel contracts under the 2017 Public Procurement Act because the law narrowly defined "abandoning work" as only failing to perform contractual duties or damaging government agencies. It did not cover harm to public life and property, resulting in the government having to let the same private contractors continue work or risk lawsuits for damages if contracts were canceled without legal grounds.
This development stems from advocacy by the People’s Party and a special parliamentary committee studying how to systematically raise construction standards to address structural problems. The new ministry regulation will operate alongside the "Contractor Report Card" system, which deducts points and suspends bidding rights for contractors who fail to meet standards, giving the government decisive legal tools to penalize private contractors and genuinely protect public safety.