OK given to unlock Sor Por Kor land
As expected, the cabinet yesterday said the powerful Section 44 of the interim charter should be invoked to unlock the use of Sor Por Kor agricultural land for three areas of business: petroleum, renewable energy and mining.
But the focus of Section 44 will mainly apply to land that has already been allocated for development in those three industries.
According to the report by the Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives Ministry sent to the cabinet, the three business activities apply to only 3,695 rai of Sor Por Kor land, or about 0.09% of the total 41 million rai nationwide.
Government spokesman Sansern Kaewkamnerd said the use of Section 44 will help cut through existing regulations, allowing Sor Por Kor land to be used for petroleum, renewable energy and mining.
Section 44 will enable private companies to continue their operations as usual and continue investing.
The l and dispute emerged earlier this year when the Supreme Administrative Court ruled that renting out Sor Por Kor land for wind farms in Chaiyaphum, when the land had been designated for farming purposes only, was not permissible. The court ordered the revocation of a licence to develop a wind farm there.
Earlier this month, the same court revoked the Agricultural Land Reform Committee’s order allowing the use of natural resources in land reform areas for any purposes other than agriculture, leading to seven upstream petroleum projects being halted, trimming 16,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boed) in production, or roughly 2% of the country’s total oil demand.
SET-listed PTTEP, Thailand’s only upstream oil firm, was party to 15,000 boed.
Apart from PTTEP, the six other companies affected by the order are CNPHK Thailand Ltd, Eco Orient Resources Thailand Ltd, PTTEP SP, Apico Khorat Ltd, Twinza Oil Ltd and Yanchang Petroleum Thailand Ltd.
According to Mr Sansern, the Sor Por Kor land dispute has led 18 companies with a combined investment of 30-40 billion baht to baulk at continued investment.