MRTA station plan sparks city architecture row

A civil group has called on the Mass Rapid Transit Authority (MRTA) to relocate an entry point into the Phan Fa station of its Purple Line to preserve century-old shophouses along Phra Sumen Road.

Rosana Tositrakul, a former Bangkok senator and president of Rattanakosin Heritage Conservation Group (RHCG), said construction of the Phan Fa station’s entry and exit points would involve bringing down historic shophouses in the old area of Bangkok.

The builder plans to dismantle the old shophouses and rebuild them. However, Ms Rosana said the project threatens to devalue their architectural integrity.

She suggested the entry and exit points should be built near more modern buildings nearby. “The MRTA may have been reluctant to build the station access on land closer to the modern…