Working committee set up to interpret Court's order
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The government resolved to set up a working committee to interpret the Central Administrative Court's order on the Bt350 billion water-management plan.
Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra will be asked to appoint Education Minister Phongthep Thepkanchana as chairman of the working committee.
The decision was jointly announced at a press conference on Friday by PM's Office Ministry permanent secretary Tongthong Chandrangsu, Deputy Prime Minister Plodprasop Suraswadi, and Achporn Charuchinda, secretary-general for the Office of the Council of State.
The court yesterday ruled that the government must carry out environmental impact assessment and health impact assessment for all projects considered harmful to the environment and communities.
Plodprasop said that the government has worked hard in addressing acute problems, which partly resulted in the 2011 flood disaster. Yet, he said the government is ready to comply with the law.
To comply with the Constitution's Section 57 (2), he plans a public hearing in each region of Thailand, where 20,000-40,000 individuals are targeted from each region. The hearings should take no more than two months.
In compliance to the Constitution's Section 67 (2), the National Resources and Environment Ministry will survey possible impacts and report the results to the
the Water and Flood Management Commission. He also urged all academics and others who opposed the plan to rather voice their suggestions.
Achaporn said that there is no discussion yet on the communication with 4 private companies, which won the bidding for the 9 modules.
He added that though the government has already signed loan facilities to finance the projects, the interest will be counted on the day that it is disbursed.
In another development, Srisuwan Janya, president of the Stop Global Warming
Association, which brought the case to the court, today filed a petition with the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) against Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and Tongthong for violating the Constitution in their implementation of the water mega-project.
At the Government House, Yingluck said the government is ready to comply with the law. She asserted that the project is designed as a total water-management solution, to cope with flood and drought. She said that through the project, the irrigation system in some areas will be improved to ensure better crop output.
