Govt still has lot of work to do to stop another flood: Democrats

The Nation

BANGKOK: -- Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra still has a lot to do to prevent flooding in and around the capital this year despite her recent inspection of the "flood trail", according to a deputy Bangkok governor and the Democrat Party leader yesterday.

But Komsan Maleesi, deputy dean at the Faculty of Technology at King Mongkut's Institute of Technology Lat Krabang, said it was too soon to evaluate Yingluck's work to prepare Bangkok and the lower Central region to cope with possible flooding this year.

Komsan, Deputy Bangkok Governor Thirachon Manomaipibul and Democrat leader Abhisit Vejjajiva spoke at a seminar held at the Democrat Party office on the performance of the prime minister during her inspection trip to provinces along the "flood trail" from February 13 to 17.

Thirachon said he felt Yingluck failed on her floodmeasures inspection trip because she did not follow up on the repairing of sluice gates and flood embankments in provinces along the flood trail at all.

The deputy governor said the PM also failed to inspect the last provinces before floodwater exits into the sea such as Samut Prakan, Samut Sakhon and Nakhon Pathom.

But Thirachon expressed hope that the government would be able to minimise the impact from flooding this year if it implements measures systematically.

He also criticised the government for having caused flooding this year in Sena district in Ayutthaya and Dusit in Bangkok. Thirachon said the government released water from upstream dams early this year without coordinating with the Royal Irrigation Department and the Royal Thai Navy's Hydrographic Department - and failed to check the amount of rain first with the Meteorological Department.

He said huge flooding hit several provinces and Bangkok last year because the government allowed nonengineers, who lacked true knowledge, to be in charge of floodwater management.

Abhisit, meanwhile, told the seminar that he would not say that Yingluck had failed her floodmeasures inspection tour but he could see the prime minister still had many more things to do to prevent flooding this year.

So far, only 49 per cent of flood victims had received rehabilitation money, and the prime minister had not checked the progress of repairs to flood sluice gates and flood embankments. Abhisit said Yingluck visited only Bang Chom Sri sluice gate and could not tell whether other sluice gates would be ready to cope with a flood.

The opposition leader said the system to forecast and warn about floods had not been done in January, as a government committee had promised, and he doubted if it would be completed in three months.

During the trip, the PM failed to talk about evacuation plans. And she did not visit the Yom basin, which was the source of flooding in Bang Rakam district in Phitsanulok, Abhisit said.

There was also doubt about whether local residents would allow their land to be used for flood retention.

Abhisit said the government had a problem in providing financial aid so floodwalls could be built around privately owned industrial areas, because there was no law to allow the government to do that.

He said the government could go ahead and implement floodprevention projects without having to borrow money for them. It did not have to blame the Opposition for asking the Constitution Court to consider the legality of two executive decrees it seeks to impose - one related to flood moves - for any delay of flood measures.

Komsan said the flood inspection tour was just the beginning of the government's watermanagement work, so it was too soon to evaluate its performance.

He said floodretention areas would be a key factor in the success of its measures, and the government should select natural retention areas. However, 1 million rai of land announced by the government was not lowland, so the government would have to build floodwalls to retain water in those areas.

Komsan said the government should also give priority to releasing water from dams early enough without worrying about drought.

He also advised the government to select natural floodways for drainage and not build anything that blocks natural waterways.

-- The Nation 2012-02-20

It took 3 years for 2x Democrat governments (non-elected once again) to get the compensation money to several villages which were inundated by a dam bursting (a Democrat implemented dam) where we lived. BTW - the dams in the area were ridden with corruption / shoddily built....

There is a budget to dredge quite a few canals and has been allotted to the BMA. Why hasn't the BMA started dredging even after the government has requested quite a few times???? Does anyone have an answew to this question? Or did I miss something?

It took 3 years for 2x Democrat governments (non-elected once again) to get the compensation money to several villages which were inundated by a dam bursting (a Democrat implemented dam) where we lived. BTW - the dams in the area were ridden with corruption / shoddily built....

There is a budget to dredge quite a few canals and has been allotted to the BMA. Why hasn't the BMA started dredging even after the government has requested quite a few times???? Does anyone have an answew to this question? Or did I miss something?

Which 2 Democrat Governments?

What 3 years?

Which dam?

If I remember right the Abhisit govt was still in power during part of the last rainy season...the govt which was partly responsible for letting water in dams built to high levels which helped make the floods worst. And where was the Democrat water/flood management plan & investments during their years in power? Fortunately, there were no major floods hitting the Bangkok and surrounding areas during Abhisit's rein, but he just got lucky. With that being said, the current Yinluck govt did an "absolute terrible" job in managing the flood crisis.

Hopefully, the 350B baht pegged for flood/water management by the Yinluck govt will come to pass and most of the money will actually create some effective flood/water management controls (unfortunately, I have no doubt a significant amount will end up lining the pockets of corrupt officials and we'll be hearing about such scandals for years too come).

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Yes, the democrats really need to point the finger!

Pot and kettle perhaps?

Perhaps the headline should more fairly be "The Government has a lot more work to do to minimize the impacts of another flood".

If I remember right the Abhisit govt was still in power during part of the last rainy season...the govt which was partly responsible for letting water in dams built to high levels which helped make the floods worst. And where was the Democrat water/flood management plan & investments during their years in power? Fortunately, there were no major floods hitting the Bangkok and surrounding areas during Abhisit's rein, but he just got lucky. With that being said, the current Yinluck govt did an "absolute terrible" job in managing the flood crisis.

Hopefully, the 350B baht pegged for flood/water management by the Yinluck govt will come to pass and most of the money will actually create some effective flood/water management controls (unfortunately, I have no doubt a significant amount will end up lining the pockets of corrupt officials and we'll be hearing about such scandals for years too come).

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I believe he was draining it off as much as possible.

When Yingluck came, she has a save water campaign, and advise people to turn off their taps when not in use.

Maybe Abhisit should turn his attention to the Dem.-controlled BMA. That corruption riddled gang allowed the klongs and drainage ditches to be built on and illegally filled in by their hi-so chums, purely for financial gain. What have they done to rectify the situation? Have they started to dredge the klongs? Of course not. Nothing but a load of hot air and verbal waffle from them. But then, so much easier to sneer at the Governent instead of pulling their fingers out and actually doing something constructive.

One more season of flooding, without an effective plan in place, and we will see multi-nationals start to exit Thailand in earnest. They will only tolerate the plant closures, damage, and production interruptions for so long, without a solution. Does the resident genius have one? Hope so. She says she does.