The Thai government decided to construct the Queen Sirikit National Convention Center to ensure Bangkok had a convention and exhibition facility fully up to international standards that would be ready in time for the 46th Annual Meeting of the Boards of Governors of the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund.

After Cabinet approval was given in November 1989, the Ministry of Finance placed a leading Thai architectural firm in charge of architecture and construction co-ordination. A "Design and build" technique was employed to ensure the Center would be completed on schedule. Some 100 designers and well over 1,000 construction workers worked full-time on the project. Landfill work required an excess of 300 truckloads a day for eight weeks. After ground preparation and piling had finally been completed on the 20-acre site which adjoins the compound of the Thailand Tobacco Monopoly, the QSNCC's foundation stone was laid by HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn on 27 July 1990. The main construction was completed on schedule at the end of June 1991 in a record of 16 months, and extraordinary achievement given that a project of this magnitude and complex would conservatively require 40 months under normal circumstances.

Despite the need for round-the-clock shifts and non-stop on-site production of concrete aggregates all the height of the most explosive building boom Thailand ever experienced -total construction costs for building and equipment were held at US$ 90 million. This was some US$ 10 million under the original budget allocations. Most importantly, approximately 70 percent of the total expenditure was spent on domestically produced supplies.

The QSNCC's final decorative elements were in place by early August, in good time for the grand opening by Their Majesties King Bhumibol Adulyadej and Queen Sirikit on 29 August 1991.

The completed QSNCC is administered by the Ministry of Finance's Treasury Department, and though under private sector management, remains a public asset.

The 46th Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors of the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund served as the blue-ribbon launch event for the QSNCC, when some 10,000 of the financial world's most influential arrived in Thailand from the 154 other World Bank/IMF signatory nations. These distinguished guests left behind one of the world's most sophisticated multipurpose meeting facilities for use in the decades to come.

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