Pollution could cost Bangkok Bt6 billion, researchers say

[snoop1130]

Pollution could cost Bangkok Bt6 billion, researchers say

 

 

The PM2.5 dust in the air will cost Bangkok anywhere from Bt3.2 billion-Bt6 billion in lost earnings just from January 5-February 5, the Kasikorn Research Centre (KResearch) predicted on Wednesday (January 22).

 

The pollution was a problem at this same time last year, it noted, providing statistics indicating that the situation should abate in early February.

 

KResearch sees the capital’s economy impacted in terms of health, tourism and business.

 

People’s health is again being severely affected, especially among those with allergies and respiratory diseases, the centre said.

 

“From January 1-22, 2019, the number of patients treated for respiratory ailments at Bangkok Metropolitan Authority hospitals increased by about 50 per cent compared to December 2018.”

 

KResearch estimates health costs of between Bt2 billion and Bt3 billion this year, of which more than 75 per cent will be attributable to medical treatment.

 

Facemasks cost less on average this year, though, and many people kept the ones they used in 2019.

 

KResearch expects the dust haze to scare off Bt1 billion-Bt2.4 billion worth of tourism in Bangkok and vicinity, or 1-2.5 per cent of normal total tourist income.

 

“Both Thai and foreign tourists will avoid Bangkok during this period.”

 

The business sector in Bangkok and the area will likely lose Bt200 million-Bt600 million, mainly because people will dine out less, hurting restaurants as well as food shops and markets. 

 

KResearch lauded the government’s priority budget to ease the pollution in fiscal 2020, but warned that “this problem requires cooperation from all sectors”. 

 

“For example, the private sector should check the condition of all vehicles used and inspect construction sites and factories, while citizens should not burn garbage or farm detritus.”

 

Source: https://www.nationthailand.com/news/30380964

 

-- © Copyright The Nation Thailand 2020-01-23

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[Youlike]

Well we are serious thinking about moving out, the company that is....nobody wants to be or work here anymore...so byebye thailand!

[unamazedloso]

Cost my family alot also and we aint in bkk. We run a farm and its impossible to work. Everyone just starts to feel sick and cough.

Just to clarify we dont burn anything and plow evetything back in!

Masks dont fit kids or people with beards well enough and symptons can be made worse and its not ok to use masks long term as your basically just recycling carbondioxide ao this is not a sufficient temporary fix.

Farmers that burn need to be put in prison. If some do, all will get the messege and all the clealry corrupt cane factories will have to abide by it or be financially destroyed. To save the population what other reason is needed?

 

[30la]

12 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

The pollution was a problem at this same time last year, it noted, providing statistics indicating that the situation should abate in early February.

It is now a problem throughout the country and throughout the year, we can no longer speak of periods but of a situation that has become the status quo!

[leither69]

Why is everything measured in how much it costs in this country!! Not on the impact to lives or benefits!!

 

[nobodysfriend]

Just as unamazedlooso said , as long as there are no HEAVY fines imposed on the polluting farmers , there will be no change ...

Sadly they will only stop burning when they realize that they will get less money when continuing ( because of fines ) .

Nobody can teach them anything , they need to feel it in their wallet .

[mickey rat]

13 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

The PM2.5 dust in the air will cost Bangkok anywhere from Bt3.2 billion-Bt6 billion in lost earnings just from January 5-February 5, the Kasikorn Research Centre (KResearch) predicted on Wednesday (January 22).

Not to mention the rest of the country! Why is it they seem to only want to focus on BKK.????

 

Meanwhile the new multi billion baht bike lanes project is coming along nicely, only the air quality is so bad that it would be more healthy to stay home and smoke a pack of cigarettes! ????

[Sydebolle]

Tell KResearch that it cost MUCH MUCH more. This pollution has been going on for decades, is getting worse from year to year (and prevented me to buy a condo in Chiang Mai) and will scare away more and more people (those who can). 

But we know, that NOT burning the fields cost the sugar cane processor much less but their own money hence the burning will continue. Follow the law and things will get sorted while those benefitting of the burnt sugar cane fields will have to start paying the world market price for sugar - like in all those more civilized countries where common sense prevails! 

[Jimbo2014]

This 6 billion only counts the immediate impact.  What about the cost of lost tourism, lost business, the long term cost of health problems which will result from this, the lower IQ of children exposed to pollution and its impact on the economic prospects of Thailand.  I would say the Smog-Apocalypse will go down as the greatest blunder of any government in the history of Thailand a large one on a global scale.

[hotchilli]

14 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

Pollution could cost Bangkok Bt6 billion, researchers say

A backward thinking nation... they should look at how much it will cost to put it right.. not just the losses in revenue.

[tonray]

Motor vehicles contribute a significant amount also...not just farmers. On the purple line here in Nonthaburi, we have 4 Park and Ride Decks...the smallest can house 500 cars and the largest almost 2000...on any given day...you'll find less than a dozen cars in any given lot. This is why the traffic also is so bad around Central Westgate .

 

The biggest issue is there is no express train line...currently takes end to end about 40 minutes to go from Khlong Bang Phai to Taopoon..then another 10 minutes for train switch and you're looking at at least 1.5 hours to get into BKK downtown. Allocate money for more train cars so you can run a real express line and heavily discount it to incentivize people to leave the car at home. You have to change the mindset...but doing so would also hurt the auto industry...one of the government's shining economic successes.....another conflict that works against the population in favor of some at the top

[buanmeerugsaa]

CP is largely responsible for the crop burning. At one time, they even admitted it. 

Make them pay for all the health problems and lost revenue. 

[Assurancetourix]

15 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

The PM2.5 dust in the air will cost Bangkok

This is exactly what I wrote yesterday in another line.
As long as bangkok is not affected, the authorities don't care;
Now that the capital is in the spotlight, it is the case to write it ...

 

Bangkok, Bangkok, Bangkok;
except that Bangkok is not Thailand;
the whole country is in danger ..

 

But I found the solution:

the farmers will immediately stop burning their canes and their rice fields.
yes, yes, immediately;

and of course they will stop cutting the cane which will rot in the fields ..

 

On the other hand in a few months the bangkokois will make a face ;

no more rice in the shops,
no more of all these sugar-stuffed things they love in 7/11.
and thousands of additional unemployed people of course;

sugar refineries shut down,

peasants at the gates of bangkok to claim "bread and games"

[Assurancetourix]

2 hours ago, nobodysfriend said:

Just as unamazedlooso said , as long as there are no HEAVY fines imposed on the polluting farmers , there will be no change ...

Sadly they will only stop burning when they realize that they will get less money when continuing ( because of fines ) .

Nobody can teach them anything , they need to feel it in their wallet .

 

You don't think further than the tip of your nose;

when you know the purchase price of sugar cane by refineries; 

When you deducted from this purchase price

--the salary of the driver of the truck,

--the salary of the cutters,

--the salary of the driver of the pick-up tractor,

--the salary of the compactors in the truck;
and yes you have at least two workers who are in the bucket of the truck and who arrange the canes in such a way that the truck can go to the refinery without losing too many canes ...

 

better not to grow it;
besides the first year and the following 2 or 3, when you start to plant it, you lose money.
I even ask myself the question; why do peasants keep growing something that will cost them money?

Because on land you can grow cane there for ten years before being forced to leave it fallow and then grow something else;

so 6 to 7 years that bring in some money ...

 

and much , veru much  to some very large farmers who own thousands of rai and therefore have the means to mechanize the thing ...

[Jimbo2014]

1 hour ago, Assurancetourix said:

This is exactly what I wrote yesterday in another line.
As long as bangkok is not affected, the authorities don't care;
Now that the capital is in the spotlight, it is the case to write it ...

 

Bangkok, Bangkok, Bangkok;
except that Bangkok is not Thailand;
the whole country is in danger ..

 

But I found the solution:

the farmers will immediately stop burning their canes and their rice fields.
yes, yes, immediately;

and of course they will stop cutting the cane which will rot in the fields ..

 

On the other hand in a few months the bangkokois will make a face ;

no more rice in the shops,
no more of all these sugar-stuffed things they love in 7/11.
and thousands of additional unemployed people of course;

sugar refineries shut down,

peasants at the gates of bangkok to claim "bread and games"

This doesnt have to be the case if the government starts acting like a real government (faint hope) they would stop wasting money on useless submarines and tanks and invest in farm equipment to support farmers (as India is proposing for 2020).  They can also subsidise farmers through the transition with revenue from tourism (one reason its crashing is because of the pollution)

[Redline]

20 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

 

“For example, the private sector should check the condition of all vehicles used and inspect construction sites and factories, while citizens should not burn garbage or farm detritus.”

It’s the government’s responsibility-always pushing the responsibility on the people because of incompetence and laziness 

[ChipButty]

23 hours ago, leither69 said:

Why is everything measured in how much it costs in this country!! Not on the impact to lives or benefits!!

 

There is only one religion in Thailand, Thats money

[ChipButty]

6 billion? drop in the ocean let the poor people pay

[overherebc]

On 1/24/2020 at 7:42 AM, leither69 said:

Why is everything measured in how much it costs in this country!! Not on the impact to lives or benefits!!

 

If you can't come up with an estimated (made up) figure then you don't have a base line for budget increases and tax increases next year.