Govt seeks 2 million rai to hold flood water
Play
Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra said the government is looking for 2 million rai of land to use as areas to hold flood water - given the likelihood that wet-season flooding this year could be as severe as last year.
“I am confident that if the measures can be implemented as planned, the flood problems will be less serious than last year. However, I must admit that we cannot say right now if there will be more or less water than last year. We have to see how much rainfall there is,” Yingluck said.
While Thailand is expected to face three major storms this year, water drainage had been improved, she said.
“We also have to reinforce the dikes and repair water gates so that we can delay the water flow. Canals must be unclogged so that water drainage can be done as fast as possible,” she said.
Yingluck was speaking in her weekly programme “Yingluck Government Meets the People”. Yesterday’s programme was the first she had hosted live at Phitsanulok House, the prime minister’s official residence.
She talked briefly about the government’s gala dinner, given the title “Love Thailand, Move Thailand Forward”, on Friday to thank those who worked on flood problems last year and to call for national confidence. She asked for people’s cooperation and talked about her planned trip to flood-prone provinces, which will start tomorrow.
During the trip, which is aimed at preparing measures to deal with expected flood problems this year, the prime minister said the government would look for two million rai of land to store flood water and delay the arrival of flood water in Bangkok.
And it would seek understanding from local people whose daily lives and work would be affected by flood-prevention measures, she said.
According to a plan released earlier, 2 million rai of land in provinces such as Phitsanulok, Phichit and Ayutthaya including farmers’ paddy fields would be used to hold flood water. The prime minister did not say how much land from these areas had been made available so far.
She would also evaluate the efficiency of water drainage in the areas, inspect locations for dike construction and evaluate forest development.
“Information from the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry indicates that we have as much as 10 million rai of degraded forest out of a total of 20 million rai. Meanwhile, the management of water in dams this year will focus on preventing floods. We will work on drought problems in some areas, though. We will start draining water from today,” she said.
“Regarding the flooding in Ayutthaya’s Sena district, I accept the mistake and apologise to the people. It was a management problem. We tried to inform the [local] people but [the information] had not reached the communities by the time the flood reached them,” she said.
Yingluck said in her show that she would find a way to prevent such flooding from recurring and drain water as soon as possible. She would also consider suitable compensation for those hit by floods, following up on the Bt5,000 already approved.
She would start by visiting Uttaradit and inspect water drainage at 12 dams in the North, she said. She will expedite projects to plant more trees and build dikes to prevent both floods and drought, and meet with governors and hear opinions from representatives of affected communities so measures can be adopted in line with the Strategic Committee for Water Resources Management.
Yingluck also talked about the government’s policy for household debt suspension, saying it was an urgent policy. Debts worth less than Bt500,000 would be suspended for three years while debts worth Bt500,000-1 million would be restructured so people can have an opportunity to reduce expenses and increase income for some time.
