Road digging begins

Authorities began excavation of a road in Pathum Thani yesterday to speed up water flow into the sea while the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration proposed a 11-point plan for urgent government action to help ease the city’s worsening flood problem.
Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra yesterday managed to persuade local communities along Canal 9 in Pathum Thani’s Thanya Buri district, to allow excavation of a section of the road that runs parallel with the canal.
The affected section is located somewhere between the east-west Rangsit Canal and Hok Wa Canal on the border with Bangkok.
The water channelling is aimed at speeding up the flow of run-off water into the Hok Wa Canal, and then into the city’s Saen Saeb Canal.
Yingluck thanked the residents for their “sacrifice” and promised them “full compensation”.
“Thank you everyone for your sacrifice. If we wait until the watergates [north of Bangkok] are damaged, water will burst into Bangkok. Foreigners will lose their confidence in us due to our failure to protect our capital city,” she said in hoarse voice.
“To any person affected, I assure full compensation,” she added.
The prime minister said it was necessary to take the decisive action in order to prevent the capital from being severely flooded.
Excavation of the road was expected to be completed last night, according to Yingluck, who earlier took a helicopter ride to inspect flooded areas in Nonthaburi, Bangkok, and Pathum Thani along with senior officials.
Meanwhile, Transport Minister Sukampol Suwannathat said yesterday that there would be no excavation of roads in eastern Bangkok, as had been proposed by a group of engineers as a way to help with the movement of flood water into the sea.
He said instead, canals in the areas would be dredged to help speed up the water movement.
The proposal earlier called for Pracha Ruamjai, Rat Uthit, Suwinthawong, Ruam Patthana, and Nimit Mai roads to be cut through in order to allow better flow of water.
The transport minister also said there was no need to cut through Bang Na-Trat Road and the Motorway, which links Bangkok and the eastern seaboard provinces, as had been suggested by some experts.
Meanwhile, the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration submitted its 11-point proposal in writing to the government’s Flood Relief Operations Centre (FROC), calling for urgent decision.
The proposal called on the government to order the Royal Irrigation Department, which is overseen by a minister from the coalition Chart Thai Pattana Party, to ensure all the working pumps at the key sluice gates at Canal 13 and Nong Chok be switched on to help with the movement of water towards the sea.
The BMA also called for the opening of watergates in canals between Ayutthaya and Pathum Thani in order to reduce and divert the water pressure from Rapipat Canal 1 above Bangkok, and to keep the sluice gate at Rangsit Canal 1 closed to prevent more water flowing into the city.
The government was also urged to order urgent repair of the damaged sluice gates, which are important to protect Bangkok from severe flooding.
There were no reports about the government response to the BMA proposal.