Five-Year Deadline For Thai Govt's Water Management Plans ' Can't Be Met'

[webfact]

Five-year deadline 'can't be met'
Pongphon Sarnsamak
The Nation



Govt's dams, flood plans face tough obstacles, RID warns

BANGKOK: -- It will be impossible for the government to meet the five-year deadline for its ambitious Bt350-billion water and flood management plans - as at least 16 dam projects face environmental hurdles and strong opposition from local communities, according to the Royal Irrigation Department (RID).

"The strong opposition from local communities over land expropriation is the most challenging obstacle for us to worry about to complete this mega project," RID director-general Lertviroj Kowattana said.

The 16 dam projects are among 28 listed under the government's mega-water and flood prevention construction plan, scheduled to be completed within five years.

According to Lertviroj, the 28 dam projects could retain 2,495 million cubic metres of water in major river basins nationwide, including in the northern part of Thailand. They include the Ping, Yom, Nan, Sakraekrang, and Pasak.

Three of six contenders in the bidding are the Korea Water Resources Corp, Thai-Japanese Joint Venture and ITD-Power China Joint Venture.

They are required to submit final plans for water and flood management infrastructure and systems to the Prime Minister's Office Ministry by May 3. The terms of reference for these projects were received in March.

The process for selecting the successful bidders will be completed by the end of June.

Next week the six contenders for the water and flood prevention management projects have to submit final proposals to the PM's Office. The government will spend about 30 days selecting eligible contenders to run the projects.

But in Lertviroj's opinion, all 28 dam projects in the government's mega-water and flood management and prevention plans are not new ideas proposed by private firms.

The RID has been conducting studies, including feasibility and Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) on these projects for many years. The government then took all the projects and put them into its mega-scheme, he said.

Out of the 28 dams, 11 projects require feasibility studies and EIA evaluation of their value. Two of them are waiting for the green light for EIA reports from the Office of Natural Resources and Environmental Policy and Planning (ONEP) and three dam projects are expected to be located inside World Heritage sites.

Only 12 dam projects are ready to undergo construction and likely to be completed within 5 years - if the government can get eligible bidders by June, as well as a flood diversion channel in the eastern part of the Chao Phraya basin with the capacity to drain water at 300 cubic metres per second from the main river to the sea.

These projects did not require EIA reports and would not expropriate large areas of land owned by local people, he said. Moreover, the RID had already conducted a design study for these projects, which were ready to go.

For the flood diversion channel in the eastern area of the Chao Phraya River, Lertiviroj said the RID had conducted a study on building a diversion channel with the capacity to drain 1,000 cubic metres of water per second. But this project would expropriate at least 20,000 rai of land from local people. So, the government had reduced its scale from 1,000 cubic metres per second to 300 cubic metres, as it wanted to start the project as soon as possible after determining final bidders.

"The only thing that the bid-winning construction firms have to do is to conduct survey studies and building designs, then they can go ahead with the construction plans," he said.

However, he accepted that the process to conduct the feasibility study, EIA, EHIA, and get approval from relevant agencies for the rest of the dam projects would take several years, especially the land expropriation programme.

ONEP secretary-general Santi Boonprakub said his agency would study the EIA and EHIA reports on these dam projects strictly and spend at least 105 days working on each project.

In a related development, a network of eight environmental organisations and local people in the northern part of Thailand issued a statement strongly opposing the government's water and flood management projects, saying they would affect natural resources and local people's livelihoods.


-- The Nation 2013-04-22

[Thait Spot]

350 billion baht emergency loan still sitting on the shelf gathering interest.

That was a smart move!

[NongKhaiKid]

How does this balance against Thaksin's deadline to get his amnesty sorted out ? Where there's a will there's a way and we know wheree the current will lies

[MaxLee]

They just present this crap to the international community to make the impression that they really care, when in reality the agenda is always the same anyway:

Protect Bangkok from flooding by sh****loading on all other provinces... and keep the taxpayers' ripped of 350 Billion-trillion kachillian Baht as a tax free tea-blood money as a donation to amnesty the true ruler of Thailand back.... aside from 2.2 billion trillion kachillian Baht infrastructure ripoff, how much more will the Pheu Thai rip us off???

[NongKhaiKid]

They just present this crap to the international community to make the impression that they really care, when in reality the agenda is always the same anyway:

Protect Bangkok from flooding by sh****loading on all other provinces... and keep the taxpayers' ripped of 350 Billion-trillion kachillian Baht as a tax free tea-blood money as a donation to amnesty the true ruler of Thailand back.... aside from 2.2 billion trillion kachillian Baht infrastructure ripoff, how much more will the Pheu Thai rip us off???

Unlike some reservoirs the well is in no danger of running dry.

[Locationthailand]

Another hollow promise (policy) and another fail. The PTP are suffering from verbal diarrhea and care not about truth, they are only interested in tagging a fictitious (bloated) figure to any project, to allow the clan coffers to be continually filled. They have NO interest in Thai people in general who are being brainwashed purely for their vote. Sad, so very sad.

[chainarong]

The trouble with Thailand it has the cracked record syndrome, everything keeps repeating , in decades time you will still see the old chestnuts cropping up year after year , I have no confidence in the Thai government or it's departments, in it's ability to carry out and complete projects, I will give the treasury full marks for their professional management, however the I.M.F are breathing down their necks. Oh Dear outsiders.

[Pib]

What flood?

[rubl]

350 billion Baht still to be borrowed before July 2013 finishes like the emergency decree which had to be pushed through really urgently January 2012. I'm not aware the 350 billion Baht has been borrowed yet, that is.

BTW I really like k. Lertviroj's interpretation "These projects did not require EIA reports and would not expropriate large areas of land owned by local people, he said. Moreover, the RID had already conducted a design study for these projects, which were ready to go.". Translation: "we're ready to go, so shut up & move aside and let us do it"

[ballpoint]

350 billion Baht still to be borrowed before July 2013 finishes like the emergency decree which had to be pushed through really urgently January 2012. I'm not aware the 350 billion Baht has been borrowed yet, that is.

BTW I really like k. Lertviroj's interpretation "These projects did not require EIA reports and would not expropriate large areas of land owned by local people, he said. Moreover, the RID had already conducted a design study for these projects, which were ready to go.". Translation: "we're ready to go, so shut up & move aside and let us do it"

Why do they need to expropriate the land? It's not as if it belongs to anyone important. And the land will still be there for the use of the owner, it will just be under 5m of water.

[Robby nz]

three dam projects are expected to be located inside World Heritage sites.

It would seem that national or even world Heritage doesn't matter either.

Recreating the delta effect with diversion channels is fair enough but dams on main rivers flooding large tracts of country I doubt is the way to go.

[55Jay]

Who do you think will win the bid to save Bangkok (listed in no particular order)?

1. China

2. Japan

3. Korea

4. ?

5. ?

6. NE Euro company with past performance on flood/tidal control projects?

Past performance and expertise in flood control projects not required or desired as the RID is supplying the (28) plans.

China has a notable past perf edge rolling over dissenting bodies with heavy machinery, which may come in handy.

[A Member]

Another hollow promise (policy) and another fail. The PTP are suffering from verbal diarrhea and care not about truth, they are only interested in tagging a fictitious (bloated) figure to any project, to allow the clan coffers to be continually filled. They have NO interest in Thai people in general who are being brainwashed purely for their vote. Sad, so very sad.

Why does PTP not come as close as they can to telling the truth for once ans issue a statement that nothing gets done until the amnesty bill is in place, the waters part and Mr. T is home running things from Bkk and not on Skype

[Ricardo]

What flood?

The one which didn't happen in 2011, or any other time, but anyway was clearly all the fault of the Dems & Abhisit, not the Plodprasop-committee with their fanciful notions of getting rivers to run uphill, and won't happen again under PTP-rule, because that's what the Big Boss Skypes, and definitely can't flood any Japanese-owned factories, because the government will pass a law against that, unless the evil Constitutional-Court prevents them, erm ... does this get me my cheque yet, Mr Hamster ?

[lostmebike]

'The dotted line shows the new route for canals that will be dredged in the future'

This is hilarious. IF they were constructed and a company did have the contract to dredge them, chances of it actually being done....

Just drive around the north and central areas of Thailand in the hot/dry season and notice how shallow the dried out rivers/tributaries are.

[Khonper]

350 billion Baht still to be borrowed before July 2013 finishes like the emergency decree which had to be pushed through really urgently January 2012. I'm not aware the 350 billion Baht has been borrowed yet, that is.

BTW I really like k. Lertviroj's interpretation "These projects did not require EIA reports and would not expropriate large areas of land owned by local people, he said. Moreover, the RID had already conducted a design study for these projects, which were ready to go.". Translation: "we're ready to go, so shut up & move aside and let us do it"

Why do they need to expropriate the land? It's not as if it belongs to anyone important. And the land will still be there for the use of the owner, it will just be under 5m of water.

Words from a true Democrat

[Thai at Heart]

The trouble with Thailand it has the cracked record syndrome, everything keeps repeating , in decades time you will still see the old chestnuts cropping up year after year , I have no confidence in the Thai government or it's departments, in it's ability to carry out and complete projects, I will give the treasury full marks for their professional management, however the I.M.F are breathing down their necks. Oh Dear outsiders.

I would love to be an archaeologist excavating Thailand in 1mn years time.

They will have a very hard time explaining what they find.

Until they find a book somewhere claiming " corruption will kill Thailand one day"

[overherebc]

350 billion Baht still to be borrowed before July 2013 finishes like the emergency decree which had to be pushed through really urgently January 2012. I'm not aware the 350 billion Baht has been borrowed yet, that is.

BTW I really like k. Lertviroj's interpretation "These projects did not require EIA reports and would not expropriate large areas of land owned by local people, he said. Moreover, the RID had already conducted a design study for these projects, which were ready to go.". Translation: "we're ready to go, so shut up & move aside and let us do it"

Why do they need to expropriate the land? It's not as if it belongs to anyone important. And the land will still be there for the use of the owner, it will just be under 5m of water.

Words from a true Democrat

Shrimp farm

[FarangTalk]

What's wrong with just bringing in a few boats and using their propellers to push the water out to sea?

[Thai at Heart]

What's wrong with just bringing in a few boats and using their propellers to push the water out to sea?

Now that is a very valid question. Considering the navy and army provided boats, better not get anyone took answer.

[hellodolly]

I really think they would have no problem with completing the plan on the slated schedule.

The real problem is they figured out how much it would cost and forgot to add in the corruption money so now they don't have enough money OK ed for the project.

The worst part of it is the whole project is with the intention of stopping Bangkok from flooding and the sea is rising and Bangkok is sinking so in the end run it is a doomed project.