Bt350-bn flood measures too expensive: Experts
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Yingluck to discuss concern over costly schemes with Dr Sumet, source says, amid fears of budget wastage
A group of water-resource management experts have criticised the government’s Bt350 billion raft of flood-prevention schemes as too expensive.
The experts are members of the government’s Strategic Committee for Water Resources Management (SCWRM), chaired by Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, according to a Government House source.
The SCWRM approved six urgent and two long-term plans to tackle the country’s massive flood problems last Friday.
Of the Bt350-billion price tag, Bt300 billion is earmarked for systems to manage water in the Chao Phraya River basin. The remaining Bt50 billion will be used to build systems in another 17 areas.
Some of these schemes will be completed within one year, while others will start next year.
The source said Deputy Prime Minister Kittiratt Na-Ranong as well as experts such as Vichien Chaowalit, Pramote Maikhad, Royol Chitdon and Irrigation Department chief Chalit Damrongsak attended the January 6 meeting chaired by Yingluck.
However, some were not happy with the government’s handling of the schemes.
“The prime minister decided to seek a meeting with Dr Sumet [Tantivejakul, an adviser to the SCWRM] after a conflict of opinion reportedly arose between some members,” the source said.
“The experts viewed these schemes as too expensive at several hundred billion baht. Initiatives to tackle the flood problem are often followed by mega-project proposals, which require a large amount of state funding.
“There are worries that this will lead to inefficient use of state budgets and a failure to solve the flood problem systematically in the end,” the source said.
Yingluck was supposed to discuss this issue with Dr Sumet at Government House yesterday, but the meeting was postponed.
Arnon Sanidwong Na Ayuthaya, an SCWRM member, denied that there was any conflict among members of the committee when approving the eight flood-prevention schemes.
Meanwhile, Kittiratt said the country’s economy is forecast to grow by as much as 7 per cent this year due to massive investment in flood prevention and other mega-projects.
The government would launch new investment projects immediately after Parliament approved the 2012 state expenditure bill, which includes Bt29 billion for repairing water gates, dykes and dams damaged by last year’s floods, Thailand’s worst in decades.
In addition, the government will mobilise another Bt350 billion to finance urgent and long-term flood-prevention schemes.
Dr Virabongsa Ramangkura, chairman of the strategic committee for reconstruction and future development, said the government had reassured foreign investors that urgent and long-term plans would be implemented to prevent a repeat of the massive flood damage.
He also expressed confidence that international insurance companies would continue to do business in Thailand and that no major foreign investors would relocate their production facilities to other countries.
