Follow orders or face action, BMA warned

The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) will face legal penalties if it fails to respond to Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra’s flood prevention instructions.
“Article 31 of the Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Act requires all agencies to take orders from the prime minister,” Science Minister Plodprasob Surassawadee said yesterday. He chairs the Water and Flood Management Committee.
The Democrat Party controls the BMA while Yingluck is PM in the Pheu Thai Party.
Plodprasop has accused the BMA of failing to complete the dredging of small canals and ditches in Bangkok before the end of June.
“The dredging was initially scheduled for completion by June 30,” Plodprasop said. He was speaking after attending a meeting to follow up on the flood prevention measures.
He said the meeting, chaired by Yingluck, assigned him to follow up on progress with the BMA.
“We will report progress on flood prevention efforts to the public every now and then so the public will know what is going on,” he said.
Plodprasop said he was confident so far that the government would be able to protect key areas such as Bangkok and six industrial estates from flooding this year.
“The rainfall will be less than last year,” he said. He added the authorities had completed many flood prevention projects, including the construction of 2,000 upstream dams and the preparation of 2.1 million rai of land as water retention zones.
“We will be raising the height of the earthern embankment along the Chao Phraya River, too,” Plodprasop said.
He said agencies would link their early warning systems and tackle areas with water drainage problems.
Plodprasop said Yingluck would be working at the Water and Flood Management Committee office every Thursday from next week onwards. She would also spend some weekends following up on progress of flood prevention projects.
The Meteorological Department issued a warning about heavy downpours and possible flash floods in 21 provinces yesterday. Among the risky provinces were Chiang Rai, Ubon Ratchathani, Nong Khai, Phuket, Krabi, Ranong and Phang Nga.
Meanwhile, villagers in Angthong have had to dismantle six of their houses because soil on the banks of the Chao Phraya River crumbled.
Plodprasop disclosed that since the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa) had scrapped its climate research project in Thailand, the German Aerospace Centre had expressed an interest in conducting similar research here.
Nasa decided to scrap its project last year in the wake of opposition or caution from groups, including the Democrat Party, and the Thai government decided to consult Parliament before it approved Nasa’s use of its Utapao Airport.
 “Nasa cancelled the SEAC4RS mission, which was scheduled to begin in August 2012, due to the absence of necessary approvals by regional authorities in the timeframe necessary to support the mission’s planned deployment and scientific observation window,” according to a statement posted on Nasa’s website.
Plodprasop said media should ask the opposition party if it would oppose this research project again. “I have instructed agencies on the Thai side not to sign anything yet,” he said.