Thailand Floods Prompt Re-Think Of Urban Planning Nationwide

[webfact]

Floods prompt re-think of urban planning nationwide

Pongphon Sarnsamak

The Nation

The Department of Public Works and Town and Country Planning is revising all city planning across country in response to the flooding crisis.

"The revision of city planning will re-designate residential areas to lessen the impact of [future] natural disasters. People will know where they can live and where they cannot," department director-general Udom Puasakul said.

The department has come to understand the degree to which urban areas and economic zones in the country are at risk from flooding, he said.

"We will have a new national master plan for city planning to protect urban communities in place in the next five years," he said.

The department will spend over Bt4 billion on the new national master plan to ensure that it incorporates flood-related provisions.

"I admit that it is difficult for me to tell people to relocate their homes," Udom said.

The department will offer planning guidelines not only for provincial cities, but also for outlying districts that will allow local authorities and residents to make their own decisions when it comes to constructing buildings or establishing residential and industrial areas, he said.

"This is the country's first project involving urban planning for districts, which will provide residents with more information about the physical makeup of their areas," department deputy director-general Chetawan Anantasomboon said.

Planning for districts will provide information about the location of residential areas, industrial areas, agriculture areas and disaster areas. It will be limited to suggesting proper locations for where people should live or conduct business, he said.

"We can only tell them where they should live, but we cannot stop them from building homes in flood-risk areas," he said.

The urban plan for districts will take four years, in which time the department will conduct a survey and draw up a city plan for each district across country.

-- The Nation 2011-10-04

[rheinwiese]

Hurray, another master plan.

[Guest]

Urban planning in Thailand... an oxymoron.

[scotbeve]

Let's see what happens.... Has this issue of City Planning been brought forward before? Another question springs to mind... Is it too late for this planning?

[Chang_paarp]

When some Pu-Yai discovers that his home is uninsurable due to flood mapping (as is done in many countries), he will lobby to have the maps altered or withdrawn. Brisbane Australia is busy re-drwaing their maps due to the floods earlier this year.

[sirchai]

"I admit that it is difficult for me to tell people to relocate their homes," Udom said.

I tried to relocate mine, but it didn't work out so far.......

[steveromagnino]

Let's see what happens.... Has this issue of City Planning been brought forward before? Another question springs to mind... Is it too late for this planning?

Actually most cities have masterplans; Bangkok included.

The issues are:

- Thailand is flood prone anyhow; heavy monsoon rainfall means flooding

- urbanisation makes this worse with hard areas; good urban planning can only do so much when the underlying problem is major

- weather has changed in recent years, with rainfall tending to concentrate in shorter time spans, but more intense

- successive governments have gradually increased the amount of land utilisation meaning more farmers with fewer areas to allow water catchments (such as the monkey cheeks concept of HM - fine for everyone...except the people who own land in that area)

- major areas like Chiang Mai, Korat have run completely standalone from any urban planning; with wealthy business families developing major areas in the forest areas, thus increasing the runoff and flooding; done separate from legal planning and forced through - Chiang Mai's problems are well documented and the key period is that 2001 - 2005 period where housing estates and resorts popped up in areas that should have remained forrest

- government initiatives such as green roofs, lakes integrated into developments, etc, are often not well implemented or are reversed with changes of government; Bangkok is by far the most progressive and has made the most progress; however it is also the most affluent and with the most disposable income on a macro level to do something; however that still doesn't prevent developers and individuals from doing things counter to the benefit of the city overall

in the case of Bangkok, the water moves from the northern side to the southern side; the new airport and the way it has been built certainly doesn't help at all, but overall the water management of the city is pretty good.

I have no doubt that in certain areas, the irrigation department are being blamed for the problems; the reality is that if everyone wants to farm and convert forrest into agricultural land or urban areas, the run off problems and flooding will continue. The solutions are not cheap, and it's easier to just pocket the cash and hope that we don't get a heavy rainfall year.

That's this year.

[Thai at Heart]

Indeed, I am amazed that Bangkok proper has survived last year and this (if only by inches) to be really badly flooded.

However, as mentioned, most towns have a plan of a sort, I am just wondering if there was any consideration of impacts from new developments on flooding. I can't remember how many times when a new moobhan is constructed it causes issues for other existing developments. The race to be a foot higher than the other developments cannot go on forever.

I know in the town up country where we have a house, there has been very fast development in the last 3 years, and it is causing big problems with road drains so that some roads have been virtually permanantly under water now for about 3 months. How it can be that when a new development goes in, that their responsibility for the surrounding area stops at the front door I don't understand since it has been going on for donkeys years and it always causes problems.

How it is impossible to make the new moobhan developments pay to upgrade the drainage systems connecting their areas to the existing networks I don't know, but it would certainly make developers think again about putting up houses in inappropriate places.

[mdechgan]

Thailand has no planning.

Land is sold then bought. After buildings and homes are constructed then the infrastructure follows.

Different in other developed countries where infrastructure comes first and one needs a permit to actually build something.

[alexakap]

Thailand has no planning.

Land is sold then bought. After buildings and homes are constructed then the infrastructure follows.

Different in other developed countries where infrastructure comes first and one needs a permit to actually build something.

In Thailand, you MUST have a permit to build anything, even to build a bio-toilet on your freshly-bought piece of land.

And you MUST follow some steps prior getting the permit.

In case of building a house - you MUST care manything around the area (say, you MUST sign the plan to repair the public roads after they are damaged by YOUR heavy vehicles, trucks loaded with sand etcetcetc). Normally the construction company or the developer doing this all for'ya, but it is a MUST.

Seems you never tried to build a house here. I did.

[hellodolly]

Here in Chiang Mai what is needed is better water management. They waited untill the river was almost over flowing and then opened the dam.

It is not like they couldn't have started to drop the water level behind it a few weeks earlier.

The same thing happened last time they had a flood. hey learned from that. This time they warned people they were going to flood the city.

[theanimaster]

"Most towns have a plan of some sort..."

You mean like, run-like-hell-an-enormous-tide-is-rushing-toward-us or get-as-much-sh1t-as-you-can-carry-to-the-second-floor-quick ?

[billd766]

Thailand has no planning.

Land is sold then bought. After buildings and homes are constructed then the infrastructure follows.

Different in other developed countries where infrastructure comes first and one needs a permit to actually build something.

In Thailand, you MUST have a permit to build anything, even to build a bio-toilet on your freshly-bought piece of land.

And you MUST follow some steps prior getting the permit.

In case of building a house - you MUST care manything around the area (say, you MUST sign the plan to repair the public roads after they are damaged by YOUR heavy vehicles, trucks loaded with sand etcetcetc). Normally the construction company or the developer doing this all for'ya, but it is a MUST.

Seems you never tried to build a house here. I did.

So did we but we never ran into any of that stuff you did.

Saying that we do live way out in the sticks on the edge of a national park.

Water already went past the house as did electricity.

As soon as we got a house number we applied for a meter and were connected in a couple of days.

My wife looked around at 3 or 4 builders and at what they had built and chose one.

There was NO construction company or site developer so what you have said may be true where you live but not everywhere in Thailand.

[bangon04]

"We will have a new national master plan for city planning to protect urban communities in place in the next five years," he said.

Meanwhile , as regards rural planning, we shall press on with the highly successful medieval strip farming agricultural model for bare subsistence farming of rice and other flood-prone crops which ensure that Thai culture is preserved for generations of serfs to come.....

Edited October 5, 2011 by bangon04