Displaced Bangkok community wants to reserve land along canal

[webfact]

Displaced community wants to reserve land along canal
PRATCH RUJIVANAROM
THE NATION



City planners to wIden lat phrao canal by 38 metres, buIld embankment to aId drainage

BANGKOK: -- COMMUNITIES SET to be affected by the impending widening of the Lat Phrao Canal have called for a 12-metre-wide strip of land to be reserved for them along the canal.

The Bangkok Drainage and Sewerage Department has announced a plan to widen the canal to 38 metres and build an embankment along the 22-kilometre canal shore.

The purpose of the project is to enhance the drainage ability of the canal.

According to the Drainage and Sewerage Department, 3,023 houses and 13,900 people will have to be moved.

Bunyarat Thammathada, secretary of Institute of New Model Communities Lands Administration (INCA), said: "Most of the locals earn a living selling food on food trailers. If they are forced to move out and live in National Housing Authority flats, they will have to find a new job as there is no space for food trailers in the flats.

"We're not being stubborn. The people whose houses encroach on the canal are prepared to move but we want clarity from the Drainage and Sewerage Department as they haven't declared the new shoreline yet."

Bunyarat said that INCA had contacted the Treasury Department, the owner of the land, and it had agreed to INCA's proposal to allow the communities to rent the land if it were spared for them, provided the Drainage and Sewerage Department accept the proposal too.

She also revealed that INCA had sent a letter to related authorities including the Drainage and Sewerage Department, but had not received a reply from the department.

"Ninety per cent of the community members have agreed to share the living space within the spared land. But the Drainage and Sewerage Department still haven't surveyed the area or talked directly to the people yet," she said.

Bangkok Metropolitan Administration deputy permanent secretary Adisak Khantee recently revealed that clearing the structures that encroach on public canals was a priority job that the government had ordered it to undertake and Lat Phrao Canal would be tackled first because it was Bangkok's main flood drainage system.

According to the BMA, three possible options are available to relocate the affected communities: move them to a neighbouring zone; relocate them to another zone within a 5km radius of their current location; or move them to entirely different parts of the capital.

Adisak said the BMA was looking for a contractor to carry out the work, which could commence within the next two months.

Lang Talad Supaphan is one of the communities affected by the project. There are several houses along the canal, most of which have a balcony above the canal.

The head of the community, Plearnpit Surasit, said that the residents felt very concerned about the project as they had not been officially briefed on it.

"If the canal will be widened to 38m, all the communities will have to go. Our members understand the necessity of the project and do not resist the plan, but please at least let us live here," Plearnpit said.

Lang Talad Supaphan resident Somjit Pannak, 63, has lived there her entire life. "I don't know if I have to relocate where I shall go. I opened a shop here. This is the only way for my family to earn money," she said.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/Displaced-community-wants-to-reserve-land-along-ca-30257017.html


-- The Nation 2015-03-30

[zaphod reborn]

Let them live there, but pay for weekly cleaning of all the garbage and pollutants they dump into the canal.

[Thian]

I know several illegal houses above canals who have a metre high plastic waste under their balcony's. The farangs get fined for throwing cigarettes in drains while these people can do as they like.

Yes get rid of them, they also make bangkok look like a big dump with their crappy buildings.

There are even nice pavements built along the canals but those illegal squatters use the whole pavement as their garden and fill it with garbage collected from the streets.

I have always wondered why the thai let this happen. Come on General, time for the big cleanup!

[gchurch259]

Do they own land there are just squatters ?

The water ways in Thailand are a "Standing Memorial" to the lack of self discipline that leads to filth and trash every where even the water ways.

There are a lot of reasons for being poor, but none for being filthy and littering all over their own Country !!

[Strangebrew]

Well two thing's do they own the land? if no given the boot. The second thing do they have proper sewage lines or is it a case of all waste goes into canal? If latter Boot them and fine them.

[NeilSA1]

" Bangkok Drainage and Sewerage Department has announced a plan to widen the canal to 38 metres..........to enhance the drainage ability of the canal. ......3,023 houses and 13,900 people will have to be moved."

A positive step, provided the displaced community is accommodated.

Finally, an effective plan, rather than the incompetent attempts in the past.

[trogers]

Landscape and walkways along banks of canals would enhance the city, and allow ease of maintaining the waterways.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

No, the residents there don't own the land (the OP article indicates the government does).

But yes, you can darn well bet the locals are dumping all manner of foul stuff into their local canal, as is the custom.

[seajae]

they are all encroaching on the canals, ie, they are there illegally but they are demanding to have first choice of the land beside the canals when it is finished, They remove the farmers from encroached land and fine them, they should do the same here. As for letting them live back there, are there sewage facilities or do they simply sh*t in the canals as well as throw all their rubbish etc in there too. Maybe if the govt started to fine them for all the sh*t they dump in the canals we would end up with clean ones bur as long as they let these cretins demand anything it will not happen simply removing them totally from the area would be the right thing to do and make an area where they can sell their "goods" somewhere away from the waters edge so they cant pollute it anymore.

[Seastallion]

I know several illegal houses above canals who have a metre high plastic waste under their balcony's. The farangs get fined for throwing cigarettes in drains while these people can do as they like.

Yes get rid of them, they also make bangkok look like a big dump with their crappy buildings.

There are even nice pavements built along the canals but those illegal squatters use the whole pavement as their garden and fill it with garbage collected from the streets.

I have always wondered why the thai let this happen. Come on General, time for the big cleanup!

At the start of my short dead-end soi are vacant lots, one on each side. Time and time again, dfaily, I see my neighbours throwing plastic rubbish on the lots, but when they sweep up the leaves and grass, they studiously take it to the communal rubbish bin.

Go figure.

The rubbish does need to be cleaned up, and the locals taught and forced to practice proper rubbish disposal, but these are not squatters as they rent the land.

If it wasn't for the rubbish, I think these shanties add flavour and character to the city. The people should be given a decent chance to re-build on the canal edge, but prohibited from littering.

Would making the canal deeper assist drainage or is the land already too low to sea level?

[Bluespunk]

""We're not being stubborn. The people whose houses encroach on the canal are prepared to move but we want clarity from the Drainage and Sewerage Department as they haven't declared the new shoreline yet."

Not your land? Then move. You don't have to be given a reason, let alone clarification of the reason, to move if you are there illegally.

Edited March 30, 2015 by Bluespunk

[trogers]

I know several illegal houses above canals who have a metre high plastic waste under their balcony's. The farangs get fined for throwing cigarettes in drains while these people can do as they like.

Yes get rid of them, they also make bangkok look like a big dump with their crappy buildings.

There are even nice pavements built along the canals but those illegal squatters use the whole pavement as their garden and fill it with garbage collected from the streets.

I have always wondered why the thai let this happen. Come on General, time for the big cleanup!

At the start of my short dead-end soi are vacant lots, one on each side. Time and time again, dfaily, I see my neighbours throwing plastic rubbish on the lots, but when they sweep up the leaves and grass, they studiously take it to the communal rubbish bin.

Go figure.

The rubbish does need to be cleaned up, and the locals taught and forced to practice proper rubbish disposal, but these are not squatters as they rent the land.

If it wasn't for the rubbish, I think these shanties add flavour and character to the city. The people should be given a decent chance to re-build on the canal edge, but prohibited from littering.

Would making the canal deeper assist drainage or is the land already too low to sea level?

All litter should have ID numbers as they float down the canal?

[whiteman]

Chuck them all into the canal that they love so dearly and see how that rocks there boats. They would not sink because of all the crap they have dumped in there over the years. They could be the 2nd coming and walk on water.

[Chris Lawrence]

What does the Thai property law say? Do they have legislation that deals with Adverse possession?

Adverse possession means not mere occupation but also actual physical possession in an open and peaceful manner, without consent of the original owner. You will need to be able to prove to the Titles Office that you have occupied the land for the entire period of time required.

If there is such a law in Thailand, Somjit may have a claim over the land?