Plodprasop Plan Could Render Yom Basin Study Redundant: Irrigation

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IRRIGATION
Plodprasop plan could render Yom Basin study redundant
JANJIRA PONGRAI
THE NATION

Water and flood panel may hire consulting firm

BANGKOK: -- The Royal Irrigation Department's ongoing study of a proposal to construct two dams in the Yom River Basin could turn out to be a newsjswaste of time and money if the Water and Flood Management Commission (WFMC) goes ahead with its plan to hire a consulting firm to do the task.

"We will present the findings of our ongoing study to the WFMC soon to see if it will agree to use it," Somkiat Prajumwong said yesterday in his capacity as director of the department's Water Management Division.

He said his department had been working on the review of the proposal to construct one dam each in the upper and lower Yom River Basin for more than six months.

"[The study] is being conducted with a Bt196-million budget," Somkiat said.

He said the budget would include an environmental health impact assessment (EHIA). Work on this part, however, has not yet started because it must first get approval from the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation.

Somkiat expected the review and the EHIA to be completed within one year.

However, if the WFMC does not use the findings from the study and EHIA, Somkiat said his department might have to abandon the work halfway through.

Somkiat was speaking in response to WFMC chairman Plodprasop Suraswadi's recent announcement that the Kaeng Suea Ten Dam plan would be replaced with a plan to construct dams in the upper and lower Yom River Basin.

Plodprasop's announcement on Wednesday appeared to indicate that the WFMC would use part of the Bt350-billion budget allotted to overhauling the country's water-management and flood-prevention systems to hire a consulting firm to conduct studies on the new project.

Plodprasop cited strong local opposition in Phrae province's Tambon Sa-iab as a reason why the Kaeng Suea Ten project was scrapped.

Locals, however, also vowed to oppose any plan to build any other dam in their zone.

Somkiat admitted that the residents of Tambon Sa-iab could not be swayed. He said the provincial governors of seven provinces in the Yom River Basin had expressed support for the dam project. The governor of Phrae was not among them.

"The Phrae governor's stance is that all relevant information must be taken into account," Somkiat said.

According to a study conducted in September 2010, the Yom River Basin covers Phayao, Nan, Lampang, Phrae, Tak, Kamphaeng Phet, Sukhothai, Uttaradit, Phitsanulok, Phichit and Nakhon Sawan. Lacking a big dam in the basin, these provinces often experience water shortages during the dry season, and the upper part of the basin experiences frequent flash-flooding and landslides. In the lower basin, the Yom River frequently overflows, flooding nearby farmland and towns.


-- The Nation 2013-02-22

[Katipo]

Consultancy contracts, supplying the bread and butter for every corrupt official worth his salt since forever.