Thai govt's water scheme 'may not work'

[caughtintheact]

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

No one needs to worry about the prohject getting done or the money disappearing or both? :)

[Brevity]

"...the massive investment may not be worthwhile and end up being inefficient,"

Inefficient would be a step up for this government.

[Scamper]

The thing that all all these mega-projects have in common is a nice round figure - 2 trillion baht, or as in this case 350 billion baht. They also have other things in common - lack of detailed information as to how the money is allocated, lack of follow-up scrutiny, and most importantly - the money is always from a loan. That's it in a nut-shell. It is tailor-made for corruption. Pheu Thai talks about democracy as if they owned the term, and yet how they pieced all these projects together indicates that transparency and accountability was the very thing they wished to avoid. How can democracy co-exist without transparency and accountability ? All sorts of parliamentary rules were fudged over. No wonder the Democratic party had no recourse but to go to the courts. The courts are in fact now providing the kind of oversight that Pheu Thai never wanted to see. Another factor against Pheu Thai's interests in this regard is that when they assumed caretaker status ( which they've subsequently lost ) all these projects came under even more scrutiny.

" 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. "

All the normal procedures for transparency and accountability were ignored. Democracy - Pheu Thai style.

Edited March 11, 2014 by Scamper

[antimedia]

"Newsflash" Nothing works full stop with this Government.

Edited March 11, 2014 by antimedia

[pb1936]

Can anyone imagine for even a brief moment that the water scheme is likely to be successful ?

[indyuk]

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

You do surprise me with your lack of faith in the water project and your peers that are responsible for it. As a former executive of one of the hydraulic engineering companies retained by Thailand in the 1980's I can assure you that Thailand has desperately needed a national water plan in which every part managed is integrated with the functioning data of every other in real time.

The scheme underway should be analysed and improved to enable Thailand to have a national system that both prevents the flooding of commercially important areas and conserves the vast and valuable water asset that the great nation is blessed with.

All attempts must be made to prevent political influence (interference), or the views of 'dead wood', from delaying this important national enterprise which will benefit the people of Thailand for at least a century or so.

[Thai at Heart]

"...the massive investment may not be worthwhile and end up being inefficient,"

Inefficient would be a step up for this government.

The point really is, that the Senate should really get their ducks in a row a bit better than to say that something, "may" not work.

If the issue is that it may not work, why dont' they call in whoever is responsible to PROVE that it will........Or do they really have to go through another bloody bidding session. In fact the point of it should be to discover if they plance can ever work, forgetting about the bidding...

Of course, this might have nothign to do with the possiblity that the Senator might just fancy sticking his oar in so that a few pennies might fall his way???

[Thai at Heart]

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

You do surprise me with your lack of faith in the water project and your peers that are responsible for it. As a former executive of one of the hydraulic engineering companies retained by Thailand in the 1980's I can assure you that Thailand has desperately needed a national water plan in which every part managed is integrated with the functioning data of every other in real time.

The scheme underway should be analysed and improved to enable Thailand to have a national system that both prevents the flooding of commercially important areas and conserves the vast and valuable water asset that the great nation is blessed with.

All attempts must be made to prevent political influence (interference), or the views of 'dead wood', from delaying this important national enterprise which will benefit the people of Thailand for at least a century or so.

What makes you think this sitting government or this particular senator know ANYTHING about how this is going to work?

Yes it should be improved until it works. I fear that just about NO ONE involved in the planning, and implementatoin of this on a polical level gives a damn other than to know what they skim migh be.

[plachon]

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

You do surprise me with your lack of faith in the water project and your peers that are responsible for it. As a former executive of one of the hydraulic engineering companies retained by Thailand in the 1980's I can assure you that Thailand has desperately needed a national water plan in which every part managed is integrated with the functioning data of every other in real time.

The scheme underway should be analysed and improved to enable Thailand to have a national system that both prevents the flooding of commercially important areas and conserves the vast and valuable water asset that the great nation is blessed with.

All attempts must be made to prevent political influence (interference), or the views of 'dead wood', from delaying this important national enterprise which will benefit the people of Thailand for at least a century or so.

Interesting comment. So you have some faith in this national water plan project and that it can be made independent from political interference? Perhaps you would like to mention the name of the company and project you were involved in back in the 1980s. Was it ever implemented and if not, why? As a former executive, you must have some considerable insights into how decision making for major projects operates here? Perhaps you can share some of them.

[Spoonman]

How can a caretaker government commit to this kind of expenditure but by law cannot get a loan to pay the rice farmers ?