Thai govt's water scheme 'may not work'

[webfact]

WATER MANAGEMENT
Water scheme 'may not work'
Khanittha Thepphajorn,
Jutarat Tipnumpa
The Nation

Senate panel calls for review of Bt350billion project

BANGKOK: -- A SENATE subcommittee has called for a review of the government's Bt350-billion water-management project out of concern that it "may not be a worthwhile investment".

"I am worried that without changes made to the planned modules, the massive investment may not be worthwhile and end up being inefficient," the subcommittee's spokesman Thanawat Jarupongsakul said yesterday.

Apart from working as a lecturer at Chulalongkorn University's Faculty of Science, Thanawat also serves in the Senate subcommittee on budgeting for water-resources management.

He raised his concerns about the expensive water-management modules at an academic seminar, which was held by his sub-committee in collaboration with relevant agencies.

'Lack of integration'

The caretaker government approved Bt350 billion for overhauling the country's water-management system in the wake of the 2011 flood crisis.

"While we agree with the approval of the project, we have to raise concerns because after look

ing into details, we have discovered that they are not well integrated. These modules have also failed to take into account climate change," Thanawat said.

He added that such problems could make it impossible to avoid another big flood.

"So, the new government should review these water-management modules," he said.

Pramote Maiklad, former chief of the Royal Irrigation Department, said Thailand would gain nothing from the Bt350-billion that the government was seeking to borrow to finance this project as the scheme did not respond to the country's real needs.

"In fact, huge projects like this one need to be based on years of comprehensive studies," he said.

Pramote went on to say this project would only transfer the flooding problem from one place to another.

Project put on hold

Last year, the Water and Flood Management Commission chose construction firms for the larger modules of the project.

However, no construction |has taken place to date as the Central Administrative Court ruled that the government must fulfil all legal requirements in relation to public hearings, environmental impact assessments and health impact assessments first.


-- The Nation 2014-03-11

[Thai at Heart]

The government knows even less about whether it might work than this senator who knows nothing also.

[Thaddeus]

It would be more newsworthy if an article was written showing how any PTP scheme benefited anyone other than PTP politicians and their cronies.

[Robroona]

I wonder how much of the 350million baht is left?

[plachon]

"In fact, huge projects like this one need to be based on years of comprehensive studies," he said.

Pramote went on to say this project would only transfer the flooding problem from one place to another.

Pramote should know all about designing and approving massive water projects that just transferred flooding problems from one place to another during his years of tenure as boss of RID. And giving the go-ahead to projects for reasons of political expediency and pork barrelling strategies, rather than neutral and transparent decision-making processes, "based on years of comprehensive studies", as he recommends.

It is almost inevitable now that this PTP-benefiting scheme will be halted, but another similar one will certainly be inserted in its place by whichever group/s gains power in the next government and the same complaints will be heard by the losing party/parties, that miss out on the fat spoils from the next water mega-project. It was always thus, since the days of Sarit's first National Economic Development Plan in '61.

[chainarong]

Any thing to do with the PTP Administration projects of any nature, I would have grave doubts in it's out come, they have the happy knack of leaving out critical costing's , modelling, information or knowledge , as the people in charge of developing a Nation , they should be contracting the services out to Both private local and international companies , the contracts being transparent and advertised in a local paper along with the successful bidder

[1weatherman]

Certainly it doesn't cost that much for 1,000 boats with propellers.

[Seastallion]

" no construction |has taken place to date as the Central Administrative Court ruled that the government must fulfil all legal requirements in relation to public hearings, environmental impact assessments and health impact assessments first."

Incredible that the govt started dishing out money on a project of this size without having their ducks lined up in a row first. I wouldn't be the only skeptic to surmise that the chosen construction companies were given a down-payment and that the owners of those companies are cousins of the Shins or their cronies.

[djjamie]

It amazes me that the PTP who proclaim they are fighting for democracy (well 1 principle anyway) yet they have to be dragged through the court system just to ensure what normal democratic governments do naturally. That is hold public seminars and ensure complete transparency in the scheme. And after they were forced to be transparent with the voters they decided to make it as difficult as possible to get into the venues where the public hearings were held and limited the time for the public to air their concerns. And of course the red shirt terrorist wing of the PTP were not far away. They stood out the front threatening protestors and citizens concerned with the scheme's viability.

Of course the PTP never denounced this. The police never stopped it and again the red shirts showed that through their actions they adhere to a very warped sense of democracy as well that only adheres to one principle (Elections)

How many principles of democracy do you support yingluck!!

Pathetic.

Edited March 11, 2014 by djjamie

[Nickymaster]

The plan, including the budget of THB 350,000,000,000, has Thaksin's seal of approval so nobody needs to worry...

[BirdsandBooze]

They should have given the money to the Dutch and left it to them to sort it out. Everything would be in place now if they'd done that and no money would be sitting in politicians and executives offshore bank accounts.

[Estrada]

There is nothing wrong with the scheme which was first proposed by JICA in the '80s and already approved by the King. The Senators are just finding a reason to rebid because the Ministers in charge of the project will change and they will then want some gravy from the gravy train. Same thing happened on some of my projects such as the Hopewell scheme (3 changes of Government), the privatisation of the water companies and the new Airport to name a few.

[mrtoad]

Wheres Plod?

Sent from my GT-I9500 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[Nickymaster]

They should have given the money to the Dutch and left it to them to sort it out. Everything would be in place now if they'd done that and no money would be sitting in politicians and executives offshore bank accounts.

I agree. The Dutch were in Bangkok to investigate the situation after the flooding but they already knew they had little change of being asked to participate in the module construction. Surely Thaksin prefers to close deals with "Shin friendly" companies.

[ginjag]

All this money ??? follow the money again.

My idea that the PTP come up with was simple, they called it FREE STYLE water scheme, let it flow-find your own level.

[rametindallas]

Certainly it doesn't cost that much for 1,000 boats with propellers.

That fixes only half the problem. They need to install large excavators in the Gulf of Thailand to move water out of the way so the new, river water has a place to flow to.

[Thaddeus]

Wheres Plod?

Putting on some water-wings.

[smedly]

I wonder how much of the 350million baht is left?

where is the money ? or is it a staged loan based on project progression

[SOTIRIOS]

...one would suggest that....judging by the 'rice scheme'...'ipad scheme'....etc...etc...(...who knows what else money was allocated for...)...

....'seeking trillions'......

...that was never the objective...rather....just to acquire the money....first and foremost.........

...rice money disappeared....ipad supplier bankrupt.......

(...have any of the 'schemes' worked....has any of the money handled ever been accounted for.....)

.........or ever been verifiably associated with any tangible benefits for Thailand or the Thai people....???

.....and still 'seeking to borrow untold sums'....outside of any budget....

.....what a shame....

Edited March 11, 2014 by SOTIRIOS

[rametindallas]

The solution to minimize flooding (you can't stop it) has been known for years and it involves reforestation projects, small weir dams at headwaters, monkey cheeks, some bypass canals, clearing existing canals, dredging some rivers, and so on. None of these projects could be considered 'mega' projects and could be done in just a few years. The current government plans call for a huge dam to be built in an area that does not contribute to flooding but does contain endangered flora and fauna. One of the projects has a huge canal dug from one river to another but the land around it is so low that the whole area will flood with or without the canal.

What this government did was massive planning on how to configure the schemes to maximize the 'skim', how to divvy up the 'skim', where to purchase land that would later to be sold to the state for large profits, etc. Doing the hard work of actually finding ideas that would help seem to secondary to big ideas where one could hide huge corruption. Following legal framework of EIA, HIA, Public Forums, publishing project details, time lines, progress measuring guideposts, funding, etc. was going to inhibit the quick profits to be made. I guess it's the arrogance of Thaksin and his puppet governments that astound me the most. 'We got more votes than the other party so whatever we do is representing the majority'. Thankfully Thaksin hasn't been able to suborn the courts in a consistent manner.

[rametindallas]

I wonder how much of the 350million baht is left?

where is the money ? or is it a staged loan based on project progression

They borrowed and are paying interest to banks on the whole loan and have spent 10% on preliminary 'studies' etc.

[Lupatria]

I wonder how much of the 350million baht is left?

I wonder how many relatives of Houdini live in Thailand?

[djjamie]

Why doesn't anyone trust this guy to solve the water problem?

He is after all a 13th century water king!

[Crushdepth]

The plan, including the budget of THB 350,000,000,000, has Thaksin's seal of approval so nobody needs to worry...

If Thaksin approved it, what could go wrong? The guy is an economic genius and his projects are always carefully thought out with a comprehensive plan.

Sent from somewhere in the Pacific

[tomacht8]

I wonder how much of the 350million baht is left?

It seems that no one really knows where the money went.

Even the academics and specialists do not knows.

PS: Not 350.000.000 Baht (350 million).

The budget is 350 Billion Baht:

350.000.000.000 Baht. (You could build 350.000 Houses each 1 Million Baht with this Budget (It is a huge budget!!!))

Apparently there is here no interim report how much money has been accessed a total from the Budegt.

There is probably no overview what has been done since 2011 with the money?

And there is probably no execution check whether was actually built for the planned measures with the money.

"That's like a bank, which do not close there safe door and everybody has got an invention to grap in."

Edited March 11, 2014 by tomacht8

[gemini81]

Not a single thing they have done thus far has 'worked' except for using projects as a means for graft.

[Evilbaz]

30 billion baht + of that went to Dubai last year - Thaksin boasted about it to get into Forbes' rich list.

(altough 10% does seem low ...)

[The Deerhunter]

Even Thaksin's Thai Airways CEO appointment ended up a disaster. He lost a fortune while the previous guy (who Thaksin had sacked in 2012 for no reason), was making good money for the airline. So where did all the profits go? Or was it all just soaked up with PTP VIP's & Thaksinites riding everywhere 1'st class & business class for free, eating and drinking up large as was reported 2 weeks ago in a news item on this forum?

[caughtintheact]

Every law, rule and regulation should be required to contain a statement of potential harm (foreseen consequences) and a warning that additional harm might be caused by unforeseen/unintened consequences).

[caughtintheact]

So far the tab is 350bn for water, a few hundred bn for a failed rice scam, rice, 2 treillion for trains to run on bridges to nowhere, and how much for those magic tablets for children (the ones that are here, but no one can see them)? Wonder if the red-shiorts understand that this is their future as well?