Villagers fight plans to set up new garbage-run power plant
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Some 2,000 demonstrators camped outside the Na Ngua Municipality Office in Phetchabun's Muang district yesterday to protest against the community's garbage-fuelled power-plant project.
They feared it would bring pollution and environmental damage to their neighbourhood.
The group, comprising residents of 13 villages in Tambon Na Ngua, demanded an explanation from Mayor Tho Phetchtad as to why the municipality had hired Sermsap Paisal Group 1999 to build the large garbage incinerator in the area.
The villagers said they disagreed with the project, for which an environmental impact assessment was underway but no public hearings had been conducted on its possible pollution and environmental effects. They wanted the mayor to end the project immediately, or they would sign a petition to remove him from his position, the group said.
Villager Nak Pulma, 77, said Tho’s hiring of the company, without asking for the villagers’ opinions first, was an abuse of authority for his own gain rather than the majority’s benefits.
The villagers also read out a municipal letter, in which Tho approved the construction of an environment-friendly and pollution-free garbage incinerator to generate electricity of 4 megawatts per hour on a 50-rai plot in Ban Na Ngua Pattana Moo 13. It was also approved by the municipality.
The letter said the company’s engineer was hired to plan the facility for Bt4.5 million.
The protest dissolved in the afternoon after the mayor talked with the group for several hours and agreed to postpone construction until it had received public approval. Tho insisted he wasn't being hard-headed over the issue and would back down to keep the Na Ngua residents happy.
The project’s analysis researcher, Mahidol University’s Faculty of Environment and Resource Studies lecturer Suchat Nawakawong, was at the protest but didn’t get a chance to explain the project as the protesters seemed unwilling to hear him.
He said it had been proved that environmentally friendly garbage incinerator plants yielded good results.
Thailand was facing an overwhelming garbage problem. The company offered to build the plant with its own budget to save the government money and help solve the garbage issue, which would inevitably affect the environment.
Suchat regretted the project was halted because people had not studied and understood it. He said they would gradually inform people about the pros and cons of the power plant, no matter how long it took.
