Thailand's
Water and Flood Management Committee (WFMC) is offering 300 billion baht
(US$9.45) worth of projects to private firms in return for proposals on
sustainable water-management or flood-prevention systems.
The WFMC office started handing out terms of
reference (ToR) documents to interested companies yesterday.
"The documents will be available until
July 23," Science Minister Plodprasob Surassawadee said in his capacity as
WFMC chair. "We will brief the interested companies on July 24."
He said the budget would come from loans the
government had obtained from Thai financial institutions. They would fund eight
projects in the Chao Phraya River Basin, six projects for water basins in the
Northeast, and one project in coastal areas.
Plodprasob said the overall picture of the
projects should be clearer in the next three months. So far, 25 companies,
including construction giant Ch Karnchang, and firms from Germany and
Singapore, picked up the ToR documents yesterday.
"The construction of these projects will
take at least five years," he said.
Plodprasob said he was confident the projects
would give Thailand perfect water-drainage and early-warning systems, as well
as good town planning.
Town planning is a key focus of the WFMC and
Plodprasob yesterday named Pitipong Peungboon na Ayutthaya as chief of a
working panel on town-planning systems. Peungboon now heads a subcommittee on
short-term flood-prevention measures for the Strategic Committee for Water
Resources Management (SCWRM).
"We will have to clearly designate
floodways and water-retention areas. Urban expansion should not spread to
low-lying areas," Plodprasob said before attending the meeting.
He expected improved town planning would
prevent the construction of any facility that blocked the natural flow of
water. According to the minister, landowners should be required to seek prior
permission from authorities for any land-filling projects are launched.
Plodprasob yesterday invited representatives
from the Office of the National Economics and Social Development Board, the
Natural Resources and Environment Ministry, the Department of Public Works and
Town & Country Planning and SCWRM to a meeting at the Science Ministry to
discuss how to improve town planning.
State agencies have focused hard on flood
prevention since the flood crisis late last year ravaged vast areas, causing
hundreds of deaths, submerging industrial estates and the homes of millions.
Plodprasob said the government was confident
the country would avoid devastating floods this year as dredging and the
improvement of canals was already between 80 and 90 per cent complete.
"We are raising the height of roads that
can serve as flood walls by between one to 1.5 metres for a combined stretch of
500 kilometres in Pathum Thani, Ayutthaya, and Bangkok," he said.
These short-term measures are being
implemented under a 50 billion baht ($1.57 billion) budget.
News Desk
The Nation
The Nation
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