Govt ditches RID dam proposal
Hopes new Mae Wong study will ease protests
The government has decided to discard a proposal by the Royal Irrigation Department (RID) to build the controversial Mae Wong dam.
However, it will conduct an entirely new study of the dam in the hope that this will reduce the mounting intensity of current anti-dam protests.
Deputy Prime Minister Plodprasop Suraswadi, in his capacity as Water and Flood Management Commission (WFMC) chairman, said yesterday the WFMC will not use the department’s proposal and environment and health impact assessment (EHIA) study following fierce resistance by environmentalists.
He said the WFMC has commissioned ITD Power China Joint Venture Co to design and construct the dam instead.
ITD Power China JV won five modules out of nine under the government’s 350-billion-baht flood and water management scheme, with a total value of 110 billion baht.
Under the new study, he said, the purpose of the dam will shift from irrigation to flood prevention, cutting the construction cost to less than the 13 billion baht under the RID study.
Mr Plodprasop said the new EHIA can commence as soon as the public hearings on the 350-billion-baht water management scheme are finalised in December.
Meanwhile, Sasin Chalermlarp, secretary-general of the Seub Nakasathien Foundation who is a core leader of protests against the dam’s construction, yesterday said he did not oppose the Mae Wong dam but was against its construction in Mae Wong National Park.
Regardless of which study is used, if the dam is built in the national park, his group will still protest, he said, adding that the group wanted authorities to conduct an EHIA in line with academic principles.
If the assessment suggests it will have negative impacts, the dam should not go ahead, he said.
It is still unclear whether the location of the dam under the new study will be the same as in the RID’s
Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra yesterday assigned Mr Plodprasop to hold talks with the opponents, including Mr Sasin, of the Mae Wong dam project.
The prime minister’s intervention comes amid signs the government is taking a more cautious stance.
Ms Yingluck said yesterday the government is willing to listen to public concerns. ‘‘The WFMC must pay heed to public views on the project in every dimension,’’ she said. ‘‘We do not only want to build the dam. Environmental concerns must also be addressed.’’
Meanwhile, Santi Boonprakub, secretary-general of the Office of the Natural Resources and Environmental Policy and Planning (Onep), said the WFMC will have to go back to square one if it discards the RID’s EHIA.
Onep has requested more details on the RID’s EHIA study conducted by a private consultant company.
Mr Santi said that Onep’s EHIA experts would conduct a ‘‘complete review’’ of the study before moving on to the next stage. He previously said he would pass the study on to the cabinet as quickly as possible as Onep had no authority to approve the project.
His abrupt change of position followed a 388-km march from Nakhon Sawan to Bangkok by anti-dam activists led by the Sueb Nakhasathien Foundation which has won support from many other environmental and civic groups.
‘‘In my opinion, it is not worth constructing the dam inside the park,’’ Mr Santi said.
‘‘If the government is brave enough, it should move the project to Khao Chon Kan, which is out of the park and can hold more water. All it has to do is enforce the law to evict a large number of people who have illegally occupied the land there,’’ he said.
Meanwhile, about 10,000 supporters of the dam converged on Lat Yao district office in Nakhon Sawan yesterday. They have threatened to step up their demonstration if the dam project fails to move ahead.
Engineers and environmental advocates remain concerned about the government’s 350-billion-baht flood management scheme, saying it lacks a detailed master plan and proper public input.
The experts raised doubts at a seminar yesterday about the public hearings being organised by the Water and Flood Management Commission (WFMC), the scheme’s operator.
The hearings will be held from next month, but Engineering Institute of Thailand (EIT) chairman Suwat Chaopricha said the process had failed to meet ‘‘principles of engineering, laws, public participation and transparency’’.
Mr Suwat stressed that he does not oppose attempts to better manage water resources, but said the government needs to ensure the projects are run correctly.
The WFMC is spending 184 million baht to organise public hearings in the 36 provinces where water management projects will be carried out.
But former Irrigation Department chief Pramote Maiklad said the hearings will be of little value since the scheme still lacks adequate details. ‘‘What [plans] will the government employ to ask people for their opinions?’’ he said.
Mr Pramote said he has seen no evidence of a comprehensive master plan for the 350-billion-baht scheme, saying it appears at the moment to be little more than a ‘‘things-to-do’’ list.
Suwattana Chittaladakon, a water engineering expert at the EIT, said the master plan must be drawn up with public input.
People should be asked first what they want and whether construction projects will affect them and the environment, he said.
‘‘Once the government has the master plan, it can then ask private contractors to draw up suitable projects,’’ he said.
As it stands, assessments still need to be carried out on the ecological conditions and health of people in areas where projects will be built, followed by many public hearings, he added.
The government has effectively reversed the proper process, the seminar was told. It has ordered contractors to draw up plans on what projects to construct, and asked for public input only afterwards.
The WFMC’s plan to hold hearings also fails to meet the principles of public participation, in which people must be informed of the scheme in detail and scholars must be invited to discuss it, Seub Nakasathien Foundation secretarygeneral Sasin Chalermlarp said.
Village representatives from Lamphun, where the first public hearing will be held on Oct 7, said they have still not been informed of the schedule, despite standard practice dictating that it should be made available at least 15 days prior.
Stop Global Warming Association president Srisuwan Janya said his group would ask the Central Administrative Court to hand down an injunction against the public hearings.
The court in July ordered the 350-billion-baht scheme to be suspended until the government conducts proper public hearings and health and environmental impact studies.