16 wind farms in the clear, Alro says

Office determines no illegal use of land

The Agricultural Land Reform Office (Alro) yesterday resolved to allow 16 wind farm companies to operate their businesses as usual because they are not guilty of any wrongdoing.

Alro insisted the companies had nothing to do with the Supreme Administrative Court’s ruling on the illegality of the use of agriculturally designated land by the Thep Sathit Wind Farm Co project to convert wind into electricity in Chaiyaphum province.

The court ruled last month the company violated the law on Sor Por Kor land use and ordered it to suspend operations regarding its use of land there to build a wind farm.

A panel appointed by the Agricultural Land Reform Committee (ALRC) has now wrapped up its study to determine whether the case could jeopardise wind-power projects from 16 other wind farm companies, according to Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister Gen Chatchai Sarikulya.

He said the case does not present any threat to the overall development of this type of renewable energy in Thailand, said Gen Chatchai, who also serves as chairman of the ALRC.

Gen Chatchai said the panel was given 45 days to complete its report.

It found the 16 wind farm companies were unaffected by the court’s ruling.

He made the remarks at a press briefing yesterday.

He said the panel had considered all legal angles to see whether Alro could legitimately grant the rights of the office’s land use to the private sector under Section 30 of the Agricultural Land Reform Act.

According to Section 30, Alro has full authority to allow any people who are not farmers or farming organisations to use the land as long as they meet the condition of enabling certain land reform benefits.

Meanwhile, the ministerial regulation says that non-farmers who rent the land can do so as long as it helps improve the living condition of farmers both socially and economically.

Gen Chatchai said Alro also found that the 16 companies have not violated the terms of the ALRC’s regulations in terms of land rental.

Moreover, the 16 companies were acting in strict accordance with the regulation by paying farmers 35,000 baht per year per rai, he said.

“Before making a final decision on the matter, we will consider whether farmers will benefit from Alro’s land reform projects or not,” he said.

“It is clear that they really have received benefits from our projects,” he said, adding this was based on labour hiring activities in those areas, improvement to public infrastructure and water sources, and the development of tourism-related activities.

ALRO secretary-general Sompong Inthong insisted all 16 companies would be able to run their businesses as normal because the court’s verdict is only legally binding for the Thep Sathit Wind Farm company in Chaiyaphum.

Wind farms in at least two provinces have recently come under scrutiny by the Office of the Auditor-General.