No new district in Bangkok this year?

Subdistricts of Bang Khae

It seems the new district which I was expecting for Bangkok to be created this year won't become reality right now. The district council elections this year would be an ideal date for such an act, since otherwise the council of both the new and the parent district has to be elected an additional time. In fact, the last changes in the district boundaries in Bangkok was in 2002, the same year it had council elections. And the last new districts were created in 1997 (Lak Si, Sai Mai, Khan Na Yao, Saphan Sung, Wang Thonglang, Khlong Sam Wa, Watthana, Thwai Watthana, Bang Na, Bang Khae, Thung Khru, Bang Bon) were done few month before the district elections as well. The previous round of district creations was in 1993, another term before.

But the elections for Bang Khae will take place on August 29, and now the number of councilors for each district was announced in the Royal Gazette. Each district council has a minimum number of 7 councilors. Starting with 150,000 citizen there will be eight councilors, and above 200,000 there would be nine - but since Bang Khae with 193,478 citizen is the largest there are only district councils with seven or eight councilors. The table in the announcement now lists Bang Khae as usual, and does not list any new district name like Bang Khae Nuea, or a population of about 90,000 for Bang Khae.

This would also explain why I have failed to find any hint on the planned district, except one website and one interpellation reply mentioning it. Especially the (rather creepy) website of the district itself mentions nothing of it, and even with the newspaper only picking it up when it becomes official at least there some of the preparations should be found. Unless I get totally surprised in the next three weeks, the split of Bang Khae has been delayed for four years. Maybe by then more than one district gets split, as there are a few more which have a quite big population already. However new subdistricts are still possible this year, these don't depend on election dates and at last years creation it was mentioned that further subdistricts are planned.