Villagers in Trang oppose EGAT project
Play
Some 200 villagers yesterday rallied outside the Kan Tang district office against a proposed 800-megawatt, coal-fired power plant in Tambon Wang Won.
The group from three tambon in the district – Ban Laem, Bang Sak and Wang Won – submitted a letter to district chief Wisit Tangpong demanding that the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (Egat) scrap the project.
They vowed to come back in seven days to check if they had succeeded in stopping the plan.
The group, led by Mol Nasom, president of the Rak Ban Kerd Community Network; Sakkamol Saengdara, coordinator of the Andaman Foundation; and Maitree Wisetsart, president the Trang Fishery Club also earlier paraded around the Kan Tang Market.
Maitree said the Pa Lian river basin was fertile with 11 mangrove forests and many fishing grounds. Communities have joined forces to protect and manage the resources, while the mouth of Pa Lian River is protected as a key wetland zone.
Trang was being developed as a province with sustainable agriculture.
Then Egat came along and reportedly created disunity among officials as well as residents in the area, so the group wants the Kan Tang district chief and other officials to follow their three demands.
First, they want all Egat activities that provoke disunity in the community to cease and a public hearing to be held to let Trang residents participate in the project’s securitisation. If the result is that most residents oppose the plant, all procedures for its construction must be halted.
Second, they want the threats and harassment of residents to end and third, they want the district chief, officials and local politicians to be neutral in this matter.
