Restoring Saha Rattana Nakorn estate a litmus test

The 1,441rai Saha Rattana Nakorn was submerged on October 4 before floods hit the other six estates in the province. On October 7, the estate was under more than 3 metres of water and though the levels started dropping by 57 centimetres a day from October 21, the complex is still under more than a metre of water.
The Saha Rattana Nakorn complex itself has some 2.5 million cubic metres of water, while the 300,000rai area surrounding it is under 71.5 million cubic metres. Authorities have to wait for the water outside to recede before the estate can be drained.
Nattapon Nattasomboon, deputy permanent secretary for the Industry Ministry, said the government had ordered that barriers be built in two spots to the north of the estate, where water is still rushing in, and the flood defences should be completed on December 6.
The government is also reinforcing and repairing damaged flood barriers in the low-lying area of the estate, a task that should be completed by December 9. In addition, more water pumps are being installed in the complex to ensure that it is drained by December 15 so businesses can start their restoring operations, he said.
Nattapon added that the government would also provide soft loans worth Bt15 billion for all the industrial estates to build permanent dykes as a long-term solution.
Some operators in the Saha Rattana Nakorn estate have complained that the government moved far too slowly and many are even threatening to relocate to other complexes that do not have a flooding problem.
Anchalee Chavanit, president of the Thai Industrial Estate Operators’ Association, said the government had tried to help the estate since day one, but now it had to wait until the area was completely dry.
Some companies in the estate, such as auto-parts manufacturer Thai Marujun, are already sending their damaged machinery off for repair so they can quickly resume operations once the waters have subsided.
Payungsak Chartsuthipol, chairman of the Federation of Thai Industries, said the industrial sector had sustained damages worth about Bt300 billion and would possibly suffer losses until the first quarter of next year. Most of the affected firms are in auto, auto-parts and electronics sectors and many of them are Japanese.
He said the government had to provide answers, tell the affected operators about the measures it was going to adopt to help them and explain if this kind of flooding would take place again. If the government fails to provide satisfactory answers, it would be difficult to stop the investors from relocating to other countries.