Court ruling raises questions over status of wind farms

[webfact]

Court ruling raises questions over status of wind farms
By THE NATION

 

 

BANGKOK: -- THE AGRICULTURAL Land Reform Office (ALRO) will hold a meeting with the Energy Ministry next week to find solutions to problems resulting from a court ruling that some farming-designated land plots were misused for wind-farm projects.

 

Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives Minister General Chatchai Salikulya said he had instructed the ALRO to recheck the legal status of land rental contracts for wind-farm projects signed with a total of 18 companies. The Supreme Administrative Court ruled that a contract signed with Thep Sathit Wind Farm Co must be revoked due to misuse of land.

 

Full story: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/news/national/30305986

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2017-02-09

[ChrisY1]

So easy and straight forward doing business in Thailand.....

Seems there's no-one that can be trusted...especially within many government departments......lease out land to 18 companies, and then check if things are legitimate!!

[Brer Fox]

3 minutes ago, ChrisY1 said:

So easy and straight forward doing business in Thailand.....

Seems there's no-one that can be trusted...especially within many government departments......lease out land to 18 companies, and then check if things are legitimate!!

One of these days Thai officialdom might learn to put the horse in front of the cart. But I doubt that will ever happen as it interferes with the process of corruption.

[pookiki]

It would seem that the 'rational' thing to do would be to retroactively designate the lands as 'dual' use. Certainly, the windmills do not take up that much space and agriculture could still be practiced on these lands with easements for maintenance and upkeep of the windmills. Renewable energy is too important of an alternative for fossil fuel alternatives to take such a harsh stance.  Are coal plants the better alternative?

[aslimversgwm]

20 minutes ago, pookiki said:

It would seem that the 'rational' thing to do would be to retroactively designate the lands as 'dual' use. Certainly, the windmills do not take up that much space and agriculture could still be practiced on these lands with easements for maintenance and upkeep of the windmills. Renewable energy is too important of an alternative for fossil fuel alternatives to take such a harsh stance.  Are coal plants the better alternative?

According to Trump they are! And did you see in Taiwan they are using what has become useless agricultural land to install solar energy plants, which the farmers take care of and get paid to do so from the electricity power companies? How about it Thailand? All that sunshine and hardly any solar energy plants but lots of corn, the residue of which then gets burnt and pollutes the air horrendously? Surely this makes economic sense for both the farmers and the government? By the by the corn goes to either feed cattle to satisfy our ever-growing need for beef or to make corn syrup to feed our insatiable sugar habit! Both bad for us and I love beef,  chocolate and coke!

[fleur3]

23 hours ago, pookiki said:

It would seem that the 'rational' thing to do would be to retroactively designate the lands as 'dual' use. Certainly, the windmills do not take up that much space and agriculture could still be practiced on these lands with easements for maintenance and upkeep of the windmills. Renewable energy is too important of an alternative for fossil fuel alternatives to take such a harsh stance.  Are coal plants the better alternative?

if land has to be used for Agricultural purposes than it is clear. Using it for something else and saying that is can still be used for agriculture is starting a sliding scale.

[pookiki]

58 minutes ago, fleur3 said:

if land has to be used for Agricultural purposes than it is clear. Using it for something else and saying that is can still be used for agriculture is starting a sliding scale.

Heaven forbid that a sliding scale should be started in Thailand!  Land use laws in Thailand are abstract at best.  Is using the land for agriculture and wind farms really incompatible?  Shouldn't there be a public purpose in supporting and encouraging renewable energy?  Maybe all the ice falling from the glaciers at the poles is the real sliding scale!