Environmentalists Unimpressed By Bangkok Governor Candidates' Ideas

[webfact]

Environmentalists unimpressed by candidates' ideas

Budsarakham Sinlapalavan

The Nation

click HERE for large image

newsjsBANGKOK: -- Bangkok governor candidates will need to think "outside the box" if they are really committed to making the capital more environmentally friendly. They could also learn from Singapore, considered as the greenest metropolis in the region.

In Asia, people enjoy 39 square metres of green areas each on average, but those in Bangkok, with 5.7 million permanent residents on 1,569 square kilometres of land, have to make do with a mere 3sqm each, according to Asian Green City Index 2011, commissioned by Siemens and completed by Economist Intelligence Unit.

Singapore, with five million people squeezed into 715 sqm, offers 66sqm of green area per person.

Besides land use, Bangkok is poorer in energy usage and CO2, sanitation, waste, water and transport - the indicators of going green - in the 2011 ranking.

Under the threat of climate change, "going green" has been part of all candidates' election campaigns, but environmental activists say they still lack the right ideas, let alone the framework to implement the policy.

Pongprom Yanarat, a member of the BigTrees group, which recently campaigned for Bangkok residents to preserve big trees, said the governors of Singapore and Shanghai |have clear plans to make their cities green.

"We have heard that from many candidates but they lack systematic thinking. The former governor (MR Sukhumbhand Paribatra), for example, said he would expand green areas by 1,000 rai in four years. He should have focused more on green areas for each dweller, not green areas for the entire city," he said. Singapore's green policies began with the "Garden City" plan in the 1960s and are continuing into the next century with a "City in a Garden" vision. Singapore Green Plan (SGP) 2012 is its 10-year plan for achieving sustainable development.

The plan describes the strategies and programmes that Singapore will adopt to maintain a quality living environment while pursuing prosperity. To reduce energy consumption, Singapore issued a regulation for new buildings to comply with even higher standards of energy efficiency and environmental friendliness. Its reference project, the 65,000sqm City Square Mall, features sophisticated sensor controls for lighting, ventilation and air conditioning to save 11 million kilowatt hours annually - the equivalent of the power consumed by 2,000 four-room apartments. To ensure that everyone knows that this really is the case, video screens at the mall display the facility's real-time electricity and water consumption figures as well as other parameters.

"We should have such a plan and the system to execute it," Pongprom said.

According to the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration's Environment Department, Lak Si is the district with the most green areas per person at 16.3 sqm; followed by Pravet with 15.6 sqm and Thawee Watthana with 13.4 sqm.

On the other hand, Bang Rak offers the least green areas per person at 0.29 sqm, followed by Watthana with 0.6 sqm and Chom Thong with 0.6 sqm.

Soranarat Kanchanawit, secretary of the Green World Foundation, urged the new governor to see larger green areas in both downtown and suburban areas. Besides more public parks, green areas can be increased by growing plants on footpaths or trees besides roads.

Or by not trimming roadside trees so often.

"I will vote for any candidate with environmental-friendly policies, regardless of their political party," she said.

Srisuwan Janya, president of the Stop Global Warming Association, said the next governor should pay attention to pollution from waste, air quality and sanitation as no governors have ever done that.

"Politician always sell their policies during their campaigns but after winning the election, they do nothing," he said.

Thongchai Panswad, chairman of the Thailand Cycling Club, also favours candidates vowing to create more public parks, but green areas are not the only thing to make the city liveable. Traffic should be another focus, as people are spending more time on the road.

According to the Energy Ministry, over 40 per cent of CO2 emission in Bangkok comes from over six million vehicles.

Note: This is the second of our "Bangkok governor agenda" series.

-- The Nation 2013-02-14

[Thai at Heart]

Waste water is the bane of bangkok.

[fareastguy]

Yes Singapore is going in the right direction with the "green issues" and has been doing so for a number of years now.

But the difference is they had the brains in the right places to plan ahead with a city wide infrastructure vision.

They had city planners coordinating with each others department to ensure a cohesive outcome.

They had a government budget for the larger projects, with affordable infrastructure for the residents.

They had a vision regarding transport & parking facilities.

They included green park areas for the people to relax & enjoy family pursuits while not working.

But most important of all, they encouraged entrepreneurship in manufacturing & incorporating the latest construction techniques in building.

With most of the population on-board & willing to change their ideas on where or how they work, how they can live and share a better future for themselves and for the next generations to follow suit.

Thailands city "bigwigs" have no vision of the future, they have no ideas beyond self enrichment.

The state departments do not possess brains, only family members who are employed because of blood ties & not capability.

They cannot think "outside" of the box because they're not capable of thinking "inside" of the box.

They have no future "city plan" inclusive of infrastructure tailored to business or residents.

A green area is thought to be a patch of grass on the other side of town where people can commute to, but in reality would be turned into a building site in time to come.

Transport & parking comes second to "populist" vote buying propaganda by a government with very short sighted "knee jerk" ideals.

Bangkoks years of miss-management & lack of city planning has condemned it to be forever what it clearly is today, a complete mess !!

Not even a change of government or city planning can correct the concrete jungle.

The biggest problem is the man on the street..

With the minimum wage at 300 baht per day I cannot see the average Thai buying into the "green technology" at today's prices.

It's all well and good comparing Thailand's lack of foresight to that of Singapore's vision of the future, but whose going to put solar panels on top of a corrugated tin roof ??

It's horses for courses, Singapore is grooming a fine filly to become a future racing model & winner,

Thailand is flogging an old nag !!

T.I.T

Edited February 14, 2013 by fareastguy

[Payboy]

Recycle all the bath water at massage parlours, that's a good start I say.

[RisqEM]

I think everyone is unimpressed.

[tongoy]

A park not just increases the quality of life when you still smell the sewer... waste and waste water are big problems all over Thailand, not only in Bangkok. When I see in the menue of a restaurant in Bangkok that they offer fresh water fish, I'm wondering where they get these fishes from... imported from Nornway maybe? Solving the environmental problems in Thailand needs money, but that would be against all Thai political views... better to take than to spend...