RID gauges village support for Mae Wong Dam
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The Royal Irrigation Department yesterday held a public hearing as one of its final steps in preparing for the Mae Wong Dam construction project.
The department presented findings of the environmental and health impact assessment (EHIA) of how the Mae Wong Dam would affect local people. The event attracted more than 300 villagers, officials and senators.
The department will present the EHIA and opinions from the participants at yesterday’s hearing to the National Environmental Board's expert panel to seek additional comments. Then the project will be put before the Independent Commission on Environment and Health and finally the Cabinet.
According to the EHIA , the dam will cover 12,900 rai of Sob Kok mountain in Nakhon Sawan's Mae Wong district and Khanuworalukburi in Kamphaeng Phet province. Some 12,300 rai of this area is in Mae Wong National Park.
The dam will deliver water to 291,900 rai of irrigated areas.
The study also found that over 12,900 rai of forest will be destroyed—mostly mixed deciduous forest, dry dipterocarp forest, and bamboo.
Dam construction will affect the head watershed and the habitat of more than 400 wildlife species - mostly birds.
RID has asked the National Parks, Wildlife, and Plant Conservation Department to allow the department to conduct a survey of the geological conditions of the dam construction site inside the Mae Wong National Park's Rewa forest protection unit.
Despite stiff opposition to the Mae Wong Dam from environmentalists and nature lovers, the project seems to be going ahead at full steam. Many local administrative bodies in Nakhon Sawan, Kamphaengphet and Uthai Thani have launched a signature campaign supporting its construction.
The local authority organisations’ club, led by Vachara Ramkasikorn, yesterday urged local people to support the Bt13 billion-dam construction project.
Thousands of people from 23 sub-district in three provinces have shown interest in his campaign and he expected to gather at least 50,000 signatures.
"The dam will solve flood and drought problems," Vachara said. "We want local people to express their opinions and support for the dam project".
He added the club had sent an official letter requesting village headmen take at least 250 villagers who support the dam project to attend the public segment of the campaign.
Villagers will be asked to sign a petition supporting the dam project.
" We will spend nearly a month collecting villagers' signatures supporting the project and submit them to the governor for handing over to the government," he said.
A Lat Yao district resident, Pruan Chamnanthinthuern said he wanted the RID to build Mae Wong Dam as he believed it could eliminate flood and drought problems in the area.
"We face these problems every year and the dam could help us resolve them," he said, adding he could grow rice two or three times a year.
Supporters like Pruan were asked to write their names, identification card number, and address on the paper. The Nation had found some names and signatures appeared to have been written by the same hand and some villagers' names were repeated.
" Some cannot write so they asked us to write down their names and sign their signatures for them," Vachara explained when asked about the handwriting.
Vachara allowed opponents to the Mae Wong Dam project to address the public too.
Hannarong Yaowalert, who sits on the Senate sub-committee on water, marinas, and coastal resources, said the Royal Irrigation Department had not given complete information to participants at the public hearing.
"The department had not sent any details to me to study the EHIA report. It just sent the topic of the report to me," he said.
" This is an incomplete EHIA report. They have given the old information to people who attended the public hearing. There was nothing new," he added.
