Govt reclaims 35 million rai of illegally-used forest areas

BANGKOK, 25 April 2015 (NNT) – Prime Minister Prayut Chan-ocha says the government has reclaimed more than 35 million rai of illegally-owned forest areas.

During his weekly TV talk show, PM Prayut said the forest areas which were fetched back from encroachers would be revived. Parts of the land have been set aside for landless villagers.

PM Prayut, however, confirmed that those allowed to use the allocated land were unable to sell them. They are required to pledge their assets or agricultural yields to obtain the right to land use.

The government has so far handed more than 100,000 rai of confiscated land to villagers in 12 provinces and has planned to allot another 50,000 rai to those in 17 provinces this year

-- NNT 2015-04-25

This can't be true. Please check my math.

35,000,000 rai = 56,000 sq km.

Thailand is 514,000 sq km.

Thus 35,000,000 rai = 11% of the nation's total land area?

''every inch of Thailand is for Thais''

But only a handful of them.

Really? so quick? wow.... countless governments has failed, (or rather never tried) and our esteemed PM

did it in a matter of few days?

now all left to do is wipe out corruption by Monday, and fix the problems

in the south by next weekend and Thailand will truly be, a paradise country, the promised land, to live in....

This can't be true. Please check my math.

35,000,000 rai = 56,000 sq km.

Thailand is 514,000 sq km.

Thus 35,000,000 rai = 11% of the nation's total land area?

I was just about to post something similar. It is a ridiculous lie. That is an area in excess of the current combined national park land in all of Thailand.

How can he make claims like that, and expect people to continue to believe him.

What a complete and utter load of < profanity removed > ... there is no way they have reclaimed 35 million Rai ... the paperwork alone to administer that amount of land would take years.

This can't be true. Please check my math.

35,000,000 rai = 56,000 sq km.

Thailand is 514,000 sq km.

Thus 35,000,000 rai = 11% of the nation's total land area?

I was just about to post something similar. It is a ridiculous lie. That is an area in excess of the current combined national park land in all of Thailand.

How can he make claims like that, and expect people to continue to believe him.

That would make a lot of land-less folks from 35 mil rai.

Me thinks it's a typo or something lost in translation.

Never ever forget the quality and reliability of your average Thai Journalist. I really think the general should insist on some sort of qualification for journo's in this country, as they really do seem to be a bunch of retards.

( sorry mentally challenged!)

...and how many rich and influential people were prosecuted in repatriating that 35,000,000 rai General?

How many rai?

Reclaimed from who?

Yeah OKaay.

Only on paper...

This can't be true. Please check my math.

35,000,000 rai = 56,000 sq km.

Thailand is 514,000 sq km.

Thus 35,000,000 rai = 11% of the nation's total land area?

I was just about to post something similar. It is a ridiculous lie. That is an area in excess of the current combined national park land in all of Thailand.

How can he make claims like that, and expect people to continue to believe him.

I suspect simply because most Thai's will not do the maths. I doubt they know the total land mass of the country anyway. If my bank teller has to use a calculator to work out 25% of 200 then I'm not surprised.

This can't be true. Please check my math.

35,000,000 rai = 56,000 sq km.

Thailand is 514,000 sq km.

Thus 35,000,000 rai = 11% of the nation's total land area?

I was just about to post something similar. It is a ridiculous lie. That is an area in excess of the current combined national park land in all of Thailand.

How can he make claims like that, and expect people to continue to believe him.

I suspect simply because most Thai's will not do the maths. I doubt they know the total land mass of the country anyway. If my bank teller has to use a calculator to work out 25% of 200 then I'm not surprised.

Well 25% of 200 is a big number - you don't really expect a bank teller to be able to calculate that in his / her head and even with a calculator it could well be a challenge.

This can't be true. Please check my math.

35,000,000 rai = 56,000 sq km.

Thailand is 514,000 sq km.

Thus 35,000,000 rai = 11% of the nation's total land area?

I was just about to post something similar. It is a ridiculous lie. That is an area in excess of the current combined national park land in all of Thailand.

How can he make claims like that, and expect people to continue to believe him.

That would make a lot of land-less folks from 35 mil rai.

Me thinks it's a typo or something lost in translation.

Maybe they have reclaimed it multiple times or had the Tourism Authority of Thailand provide the numbers.

Ok, was hard to find the right numbers, but here goes;

-Government's aim is to check 35 million rai of land for legality in the next 3 years.

-so far (first 3 months) they have started to look into 3.6 million rai (which is 30% according to source, sigh).

- No land has been reclaimed so far.

http://www.thairath.co.th/content/491533

In Thai though

"Parts of the land have been set aside for landless villagers." Yeah, 2 rai.

The rest goes to economic development headed by the five tigers.

but up at the bonanza ranch it is business as usual

What a complete and utter load of < profanity removed > ... there is no way they have reclaimed 35 million Rai ... the paperwork alone to administer that amount of land would take years.

And just imagine the tea-money required, to get all that paperwork processed !

There is illiteracy and there is innumeracy. Either the journalist or the government suffers of one or the other or both.

But what bothers me is that apparently the rich cannot own land stolen from national parks, but the poor ones can?

Double standards?

There is illiteracy and there is innumeracy. Either the journalist or the government suffers of one or the other or both.

But what bothers me is that apparently the rich cannot own land stolen from national parks, but the poor ones can?

Double standards?

From the OP I gather that some of those "poor" were on that land before the land was declared as national park land and confiscated.

Pretty sure the "forest" part is incorrect? they've been taking beaches and other areas back, which could account for the 11%

Pretty sure the "forest" part is incorrect? they've been taking beaches and other areas back, which could account for the 11%

No it could not.

No matter how much land there is, there is a lot and it would be nice to have it either kept in forest, used for biomass or some other constructive use. Thailand has too much unproductive land.

35 million Rai. That`s must be about the size of a small country.

Why not make a large proportion of that land into a nature reserve for the preservation of Thailand`s wildlife, such as elephants and tigers.