Mixed reactions to Kra Canal project

[rooster59]

Mixed reactions to Kra Canal project

By JINTANA PANYAARVUDH 
THE SUNDAY NATION 

 

 

EXPERTS URGE GOVERNMENT TO SET UP A COMMITTEE AND UNDERTAKE A FEASIBILITY STUDY SO THAT A FINAL DECISION CAN BE MADE

 

Despite a history going back three centuries, the highly controversial and politically sensitive proposed Kra Canal mega-project in southern Thailand is once again up for debate.

 

At a forum held yesterday by Rangsit University entitled the “Stakeholders in Kra Canal@Klong Thai”, national security and the canal’s impact on tourism were among the main issues of concern as experts made their cases for and against the project.

 

 

The forum urged the government to set up a national committee to conduct a feasibility study on all concerned aspects of the “New Gateway to Maritime Silk Road” project.

General Pongthep Thesprateep, chairman of Thai Canal Association (TCA) – a group of influential former top brass soldiers advocating the project – called on the government to set up a national committee that can help reach a decisive conclusion on the long-envisioned channel that would run through the country’s southern isthmus. 

 

“The project has both pros and cons, so if the committee concludes that the canal would benefit the country it should be pursued, otherwise the proposed project can be scrapped,” Pongthep said, referring to many discussions about the project in Thai society for more than a century that had led to no clear decision.

 

According to a study by TCA, he said the canal would benefit the country as it would connect the Indian and Pacific oceans and dramatically shorten East-West shipping routes. The TCA study claims that 65 per cent of people in the South, which will be affected by the project, were agreeable to it.

 

Anek Laothamatas, the Political Reform Committee chairman who was introduced at the forum as an expert on the route proposal for the canal, said that in ancient times people travelled by sea hence he thought Thailand needed to exercise its “sea power”, as the Kingdom has an advantage in geo-politics.

 

Thailand is among a few countries that benefits from its location between two oceans – Pacific and Indian – while China, a country 20 times bigger than Thailand, has access to only one ocean, Anek said. 

 

“It’s not a big deal or a new matter. We should not be afraid. We should be brave [to make a decision]. Our country has developed to this stage because we are linked to the sea. We should not see it as an obstruction but a linkage with others,” he said.

 

Samart Ratchapolsitte, former Bangkok deputy governor and ex-Democrat MP, suggested that the government treat the project as state policy and initiate a Southern Economic Corridor similar to its Eastern Economic Corridor initiative.

 

Samart supported the setting up of a national committee to study the project as he was concerned about the worthiness of the project or how many cargo ships would use the new route, as compared to the existing routes. 

 

An opponent of the canal project, Admiral Jumpol Loompikanon, a deputy permanent secretary at the Defence Ministry, said the country needed to balance geo-politics and geo-economics.

 

Jumpol, a Royal Thai Navy spokesman and a member of the marine and coastal resources strategy panel, added that judging from the past he was worried about disputes arising between super powers and neighbouring countries. He cited the conflict over the Spratly Islands between China and the Philippines.

 

He said it was difficult for security agencies to decide whether to pursue the project because more comprehensive information was still needed.

 

Thon Thamrongnawasawat, the deputy dean of the fisheries faculty at Kasetsart University, raised concerns over the impact on tourism and environment if a canal was dug as proposed.

 

The proposed route will pass some tourist attractions in the South, including Phuket and Krabi.

 

The tourism industry generates around Bt3 trillion for the country annually and is ranked number three in the world, according to a report of the World Tourism Organisation, he said.

 

Torn did not express an opinion on the project but cautioned about the dangers to tourism and the environment, citing the oil spill in the Gulf of Thailand, off the coast of Koh Samet and Map Ta Phut in Rayong Province in 2013.

 

“What is the risk management going to be like? The proposed canal route would run past tourist areas in the Andaman Sea that generate about 40 per cent or almost Bt2 trillion of the total revenue from the tourism industry,” he added.

 

Former Second Army commander Lt-General Tawatchai Samutsakorn, who supported the idea of setting up a committee to study the project, said Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha had told him that the premier would not be in power long enough to pursue the project.

 

“Prayut told me that the right time [for the project] has yet to come,” Tawatchai, a former classmate of Prayut, told the forum.

 

However, Tawatchai believes any political party campaigning for the proposed man-made waterway, which will link the Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean, could win at least 10,000 votes from voters in each of the southern provinces in the next election.

 

Tawatchai claimed that former prime minister and chief adviser of the Democrat Party, Chuan Leekpai, whose political stronghold lies in the South, supported the project and said if the country delays making progress, it would lag behind other countries.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/national/30341668

 

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2018-03-25

[Cadbury]

Another "dreamtime" project that can be added to the long and ever growing list of high speed rail links.

11 minutes ago, rooster59 said:

“Prayut told me that the right time [for the project] has yet to come,” 

Anyway it seems like the PM has put the kibosh on it as he has indicated that in the longer term he won't be around to see it eventuate and so take the credit for it. 

[JAG]

Perhaps the "influential people" are getting tired of waiting and/or nervous?

All those "wise investments" in land along the canal route made over the last decades...

[edwinchester]

Judging by how many times this project has been mooted over the decades we have still to see the final report, the really final report, the conclusion to the really final report and the ultimate conclusion to the really final report.

Years of committee expenses to be gauged that's for sure.

[kannot]

Why dont they simply set up a 300 yr  committee and travel the world looking at all the other "completed" canal projects, thats 300yrs  worth of corruption and free  trips in the making, wahooooooo

[kannot]

35 minutes ago, edwinchester said:

Judging by how many times this project has been mooted over the decades we have still to see the final report, the really final report, the conclusion to the really final report and the ultimate conclusion to the really final report.

Years of committee expenses to be gauged that's for sure.

Printer  ran out of ink!!

[kannot]

To be honest  looking at the Suez and Panama canals I cant see this one saves  very  much at all really.

[leeneeds]

No unemployment if given shovels buckets picks, to dig the channel,

all the prison personnel who could work on this project to make alms against their sentence, 

 

[Damrongsak]

5 minutes ago, leeneeds said:

No unemployment if given shovels buckets picks, to dig the channel,

all the prison personnel who could work on this project to make alms against their sentence, 

 

You mean like the guys with the expensive watches?

[metisdead]

Troll posts and the replies have been removed. 

[CGW]

1 hour ago, JAG said:

Perhaps the "influential people" are getting tired of waiting and/or nervous?

All those "wise investments" in land along the canal route made over the last decades...

Perhaps? you have hit the nail on the head with your 'observation" I remember when this project was being touted ~25 years ago, members of the government at that time were reportedly buying up as much land as they could along the proposed route.

[ChrisY1]

These clowns (well..similar clowns) have been talking about the Kra canal for 200 years....!

[mfd101]

Happy: China. Would get lots of Chinese money. They could even be invited to build it and manage it (cf Yanks & Panama; Brits & French & Suez).

 

Unhappy: Singapore & the pirates of the Malacca Straits.

 

[Number 6]

It would benefit Lam Chabang perhaps.

 

Funny, when container shipping is at decades low, companies filing bankruptcy. This.

 

By the time it's finished we will be 3d printing everything.

 

Excellent submarine passage! Win.

[mfd101]

1 minute ago, Number 6 said:

Excellent submarine passage! Win.

No. No good for subs. The point of subs is to keep them invisible ie deep down below the surface ...

 

[edwinchester]

14 minutes ago, mfd101 said:

No. No good for subs. The point of subs is to keep them invisible ie deep down below the surface ...

 

How about a canal in a tunnel?

[JAG]

2 hours ago, mfd101 said:

No. No good for subs. The point of subs is to keep them invisible ie deep down below the surface ...

 

DOH!!

If they are invisible, how can you inspire respect from your neighbours?

That after all is the reason we are told they are buying them!

[Destiny1990]

Make a nice 2000 bht computer animation of how the canal will look then declare 10 million bht for the case feasibility study and then put the plan back on the shelf and repeat this every 5 years.

[kannot]

2 hours ago, mfd101 said:

No. No good for subs. The point of subs is to keep them invisible ie deep down below the surface ...

 

Youre  thinking of normal subs , Thai Sub-s? different

[seajae]

how many times does this have to be knocked on the head, the only ones that are interested are those with financial gains associated with it either from buying up land along its route or in getting on the committees that will need to be formed. Nothing is done in Thailand unless there is graft/corruption involved, the pigs are already lining up at the trough for this one as there will be huge money available for some if it goes ahead

[thaibeachlovers]

4 hours ago, kannot said:

To be honest  looking at the Suez and Panama canals I cant see this one saves  very  much at all really.

It's an old idea that would have been really good in the 19th century, but the British didn't allow it.

Now, if we are referring to Chinese goods, which is the main economic reason, it's going to be irrelevant once the railway from China to a Burmese port is completed.

Let's not forget that Singapore will probably be working behind the scenes to stop it as it would impact severely on their port profits.

[Baerboxer]

On 3/25/2018 at 6:18 AM, JAG said:

Perhaps the "influential people" are getting tired of waiting and/or nervous?

All those "wise investments" in land along the canal route made over the last decades...

 

Perhaps. Would be interesting to know who has invested in all that land?

 

Of course, Singapore would've suffered tremendously had this canal been built. Wonder if they've ever tried to influence previous governments, in any way, to try and make sure this doesn't happen?

 

Guess we'll never know the answer to either.

 

But it would be very beneficial to shipping and trade.

[Baerboxer]

23 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

It's an old idea that would have been really good in the 19th century, but the British didn't allow it.

Now, if we are referring to Chinese goods, which is the main economic reason, it's going to be irrelevant once the railway from China to a Burmese port is completed.

Let's not forget that Singapore will probably be working behind the scenes to stop it as it would impact severely on their port profits.

 

Singapore has always been working behind the scenes to try and stop this.