Is The Thai Govt Serious About Flood Panels?

[webfact]

BURNING ISSUE

Is the govt serious about flood panels?

Piyanart Srivalo

The Nation

BANGKOK: -- The government set up the Strategic Committee for Water Resources Management to try and build public confidence, especially after it completely failed to cope with last year's flood crisis.

It put prominent figures, such as Samit Thammasaroj, Pramot Maiklad, Seri Suparathit and Sumet Tantivejakul, in the committee hoping they would help boost confidence. At least, this government is good at mobilising its resources.

However, once the committee was set up, the government appeared to lose interest. Like a committee member said, it seemed as if the panel was just a rubber stamp for the government. Nobody from the government had attended a single meeting with the panel to discuss the topic of water management, the source said.

Many committee members and experts felt that the government just wanted to pour big sums into projects without having a clear plan or direction on dealing with water.

"Water management does not just consist of a bunch of meetings in an air-conditioned room. We also need to see the reality on the ground," a committee member said on condition of anonymity.

Samit recently voiced his frustration by saying the committee's water-management plan had no details about implementation and it certainly was not worth the Bt350-billion budget.

Sumet and Pramot also voiced their irritation and are reportedly planning to quit.

Interior Minister Yongyuth Wichaidit, who is also a deputy PM, urged Samit and other committee members to stay on and help the government deal with problems.

A source close to the committee said that though many experts felt uncomfortable about working with the government and politicians, they were not very keen about pulling out because they have yet to come up with concrete plans on dealing with the upcoming rainy season. Also, the committee will fall apart if certain members pull out, which in turn will result in the failure of water-management plans, he said.

"Every time the government is slow, the committee can tell the public and use social pressures to force it to work," the source said.

Shortly after hearing about the committee members' dissatisfaction, Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra told the public that she had assigned water-management duties to concerned agencies. According to her, the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry will implement the plan, the Agriculture Ministry will take care of the drainage system and the Science and Technology Ministry will be in charge of the surveillance and warning system. The Budget Bureau, meanwhile, will have its officials look into all operations to see if the money is being spent efficiently and transparently.

Obviously pressure from the committee is forcing the government to be more efficient. In fact, Yingluck will personally take to the road from February 13 to 17 to see how things are going.

It is still unclear whether the committee has been able to push the government hard enough to come up with a proper water-management plan, but time is running out and the rainy season is just a few months away.

If water-management plans are not implemented in time, it is possible that Thailand will be hit by another flood disaster this year.

-- The Nation 2012-02-03

[whybother]

Yes, they're serious about flood panels. They're just serious about actually doing anything about flooding.

Posted with Thaivisa App http://apps.thaivisa.com

[REM]

Of course they're serious, but the question is what are they serious about? I think they're more serious about helping business and kickbacks than helping the people!!!

[Pib]

When ever the Thai government has a problem, they setup a committee. This is the Land of Committees. Then usually he committee and its recommendations are allowed to fade into the sunset with little to no action taken by the government.

But I'm sure hope the government understands the flooding has installed a fear of flooding into the minds of many people...even a heavy rain can now spook some people...people will not forget easily in this case. And more companies will say bye-bye to Thailand this year if they are not assured Thailand is implementing serious water/flood control management. I sure hope the government is up to the challenge but at this point even with them tossing around huge baht amounts for water/flood management projects, I'm not close to being convinced the government is really serious...maybe they are still waiting for the committee to fix the problem.

[whybother]

When ever the Thai government has a problem, they setup a committee. This is the Land of Committees. Then usually he committee and its recommendations are allowed to fade into the sunset with little to no action taken by the government.

But I'm sure hope the government understands the flooding has installed a fear of flooding into the minds of many people...even a heavy rain can now spook some people...people will not forget easily in this case. And more companies will say bye-bye to Thailand this year if they are not assured Thailand is implementing serious water/flood control management. I sure hope the government is up to the challenge but at this point even with them tossing around huge baht amounts for water/flood management projects, I'm not close to being convinced the government is really serious...maybe they are still waiting for the committee to fix the problem.

Hub. This is the HUB of committees.

[E1717007]

OMG, the Government is very serious...i.e. spending B350Billion without a concrete plan

[alexakap]

Government? Which government?

Haven't seen any.

Anyone there who care and able to GOVERN and ready to accept a full responcibility in case of faults and a full glory in case of successes....pls raise your hand, I'll take a look at this unique.

[rubl]

OMG, the Government is very serious...i.e. spending B350Billion without a concrete plan

Correct, decrees passed, budgets allocated, spending can start.

Edited February 3, 2012 by rubl

[daiwill60]

Seems to me that successive Governments just set up committees to just deflect blame away from the Government in power at the time.

At the end of the day in the case of the flood committee, they are all running around like headless chickens as the next rainy season approaches and they have nothing much in place to deal with it, apart from a committee in which nobody is anywhere near qualified enough to understand flood mitigation procedures and the preventative restructuring required to avert the next disaster.

The money invested in the flooding plans will be water channeled down the drain, of bureaucracy and corruption, and certainly not have made much difference to averting another disaster before the next rainy season.

Foreign investment companies can see all this, and that is why they are not attending economic meetings given by the PM, as she blows the wind out of her Ar5e without having a clue about what she is talking about.

[anterian]

Yes, they're serious about flood panels. They're just serious about actually doing anything about flooding.

Posted with Thaivisa App http://apps.thaivisa.com

Can I assume you left out a "not" before the second serious?

[Moruya]

When ever the Thai government has a problem, they setup a committee. This is the Land of Committees. Then usually he committee and its recommendations are allowed to fade into the sunset with little to no action taken by the government.

But I'm sure hope the government understands the flooding has installed a fear of flooding into the minds of many people...even a heavy rain can now spook some people...people will not forget easily in this case. And more companies will say bye-bye to Thailand this year if they are not assured Thailand is implementing serious water/flood control management. I sure hope the government is up to the challenge but at this point even with them tossing around huge baht amounts for water/flood management projects, I'm not close to being convinced the government is really serious...maybe they are still waiting for the committee to fix the problem.

To be fair, there is nothing wrong with committees. They have meetings, make decisions and get things done.

The problem is when the wrong people are there, or people don't attend, or can't be bothered when they are there.

These flood committees strike me as scientists on one side and chimpanzes on the other - and guess who gets all the bananas.

[whybother]

Yes, they're serious about flood panels. They're just serious about actually doing anything about flooding.

Posted with Thaivisa App http://apps.thaivisa.com

Can I assume you left out a "not" before the second serious?

You assume correctly. Must have been because I was using the App ...

[MikeOboe57]

What are you worried about?

On balance however, Ms. Y. and Co. handled things pretty well once the breath of the disaster became apparent. [...]

If that was "pretty well", I wonder what "rather bad" looks like.

edit: snip

Edited February 3, 2012 by MikeOboe57

[Pib]

When ever the Thai government has a problem, they setup a committee. This is the Land of Committees. Then usually he committee and its recommendations are allowed to fade into the sunset with little to no action taken by the government.

But I'm sure hope the government understands the flooding has installed a fear of flooding into the minds of many people...even a heavy rain can now spook some people...people will not forget easily in this case. And more companies will say bye-bye to Thailand this year if they are not assured Thailand is implementing serious water/flood control management. I sure hope the government is up to the challenge but at this point even with them tossing around huge baht amounts for water/flood management projects, I'm not close to being convinced the government is really serious...maybe they are still waiting for the committee to fix the problem.

To be fair, there is nothing wrong with committees. They have meetings, make decisions and get things done.

The problem is when the wrong people are there, or people don't attend, or can't be bothered when they are there.

These flood committees strike me as scientists on one side and chimpanzes on the other - and guess who gets all the bananas.

I would agree there is nothing wrong in committees when properly used to make recommendation and reach desicions. In Thailand committees seemed to be formed and protrayed having the power to fix a problem when the committee really don't have much power other than to develop recommendations. Usually the power to act upon committe recommmendations lies with a Minister in the Cabinet or the PM--there is where the momentum to fix a problem many times slows down/stops because a final decision to implement recommendations must be taken by the Cabinet/PM.

Thailand just loves forming committees...decision via committee...I guess it may be part of the culture in wanting a group to reach concensus and reduce conflict...and also deflect or share in the loss of face if things go wrong. If things go wrong the public will only rememeber some committee messed-up versus Khun SonChai the Minister/Secretary of Agency XYZ failed.

Committees-R-Thailand.

[cloudhopper]

One can get advanced degrees and positions here by two methods - passing examinations or passing envelopes.

Interesting to watch these two groups interact.

[hellodolly]

One can get advanced degrees and positions here by two methods - passing examinations or passing envelopes.

Interesting to watch these two groups interact.

Are the examinations those that require real knowledge of the subject? Or just a good attendance record.

[xanniex]

They should serious.

It should not happen again.

[slapout]

Committees made up of experienced, knowledgeable people can be a real assit in proposing a fix for a problem. Thailands record of flood control seems to be sandbags and dleibertly diverting water (flooding) to less populated area. Several foreign people (experienced) have indicated the multiple projects required and lengthly time frames required to approach the problem.

To date we have seen several committees formed, a overall boss designated (less experience than anyone), billions of baht requested and those jocking for their share, promises of no flood this year/70% guarente of no flood, Dam level goals/recommendations, projected canel cleaning/dregging, need for more pumps, repair of sluice gates/pumps/etc.

During and leading up to last years flood it was apparent that no group was capable of dealing with, much less preventing the flooding and the same people are being nominated to committees with the task of conveying to other incompentents what should be done.

Thailans the education hub to learn how to ruin a country/nation.