Nearly half of ‘squatter’ houses moved to make way for Bangkok promenade

By The Nation

 

The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration has relocated almost 50 per cent of the houses of squatters along the Chao Phraya River banks to pave the way for the controversial 14-kilometre river walkways project, a BMA deputy governor said on Friday.

BMA deputy governor Chakkaphan Phiewngam said the relocation would definitely be completed early next year.

 

So far, 138 houses and 282 squatter families have been relocated, leaving 144 houses to be moved, he said.

 

The BMA has budgetted Bt104.53 million for the house relocation. Each family was initially given 50 per cent compensation, with the rest to follow after relocation of the houses is completed, Chakkaphan said.

 

He said the BMA is also holding talks with operators of nine private ferry piers on the river to relocate their piers to make way for the promenade construction.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/breakingnews/30332406

 

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..............The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration has relocated almost 50 per cent of the houses of squatters along the Chao Phraya River banks to pave the way for the controversial 14-kilometre river walkways project.................

 

So arrseholes and ignorant sh1tes on motorbikes can terrorise innocent walkers?

3 minutes ago, Cuchulainn said:

..............The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration has relocated almost 50 per cent of the houses of squatters along the Chao Phraya River banks to pave the way for the controversial 14-kilometre river walkways project.................

 

So arrseholes and ignorant sh1tes on motorbikes can terrorise innocent walkers?

 

haha, indeed, there's a short riverside walkway in banglampu, the bike tour operators (many foreign/thai owned) take bike tours along the pathway forcing other users, out for a pleasant relaxing evening walk, out of the way.

Great thing, get rid of those junky dwellings. It's a 21st century city, not a 19th century village.
The authorities do however, as suggested previously, need to control the usage of the new walkways. Going by recent history that will be their difficulty.

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Several strong opinions expressed above. If the information is available to allay my questions, then please share it.
I've no information on these specific home, only a generic question.
At what point do historical communities lose or maintain authority over lands? This could be tribal lands in the USA, villagers along the Amazon River, Hill Tribe settlements or the land as discussed in the article. Were these "squatters" people who moved into the area recently? Or are they descendants of people who have lived along the river for generations?

The long term issue of lands and property rights are a global problem. Indigenous people may not have had permanent communities, or dwelt in community jointly sharing lands in common. Maybe where some communities have long existed, and locals recognized individual land rights, a national government sets up and claims sole authority to issue title deeds. How are titles to be secured? Without such titles, how can personal or family wealth be determined? Loans acquired, or claims adequately made to say one is not some mere "squatter" ...

NONE of the above questions may be applicable to these lands, or maybe many of them. The reporting is insufficient in its presentation to conclude one way or the other.

On the plus side, compensation averages 3-400,000 per household is something/ better than nothing. Certainly not enough to buy and rebuild locally.
What is the average parcel size for this? If people lived in part off older fruit trees or such, those can not easily be replaced by cash alone.
It is a complex topic - whenever & wherever it pops up. Eminent domain is cruel on people - so ideally is limited to projects where the resulting good is overwhelming.

I wonder why a walking path next to a water feature is "controversial"???

 

Because there's no A/C like at the other Promenade (mall)? ?