Royals to visit Thung Phra Phimol Project

The Prince and Princess will travel down Klong Mahasawat on a Navy boat and head for the Thung Phra Phimol flood-prevention project. They will board the boat at Wat Suwannaram in Buddhamondhol’s tambon Salaya.
The Thung Phra Phimol monkey-cheek project covers about 275,000 rai (44,000 hectares) in Nakhon Pathom and Nonthaburi, and will involve 69 pumps at 17 water stations, which will drain nearly 18 million cubic metres of water per day.
Thung Phra Phimol is the southernmost irrigation area, which receives run-offs from the North before it flows into the economic zones of Bangkok and Samut Sakhon.
The Prince and Princess will look at how the military and the Royal Irrigation Department have been dredging a 6-kilometre stretch of Klong Mahasawat. They will be welcomed by Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, and other ministers. The chiefs of the Army, Navy, Air Force and National Police will also be present.
Chaiyaporn Promsuwan, chief of the Phra Phimol project, said it was almost 90 per cent complete and four large fixed water pumps and 10 moveable ones had been installed. In addition, he said, the tasks of dredging the canal, removing water plants and weeds, as well as strengthening watergates had been completed.
These measures will help boost the project’s capacity to drain water into the sea and prevent floods in Bangkok districts such as Thawee Watthana and Nonthaburi’s Bang Bua Thong, Sai Noi and Bang Yai districts.
Chaiyaporn added that his team had dredged five canals in the vicinity of these high-risk areas, with the Army stepping in to dredge and clear Klong Mahasawat and Klong Yong. Roads along the banks of the Tha Chin River have also been raised to act as embankments.
He said that since early this month, it had been raining a lot and the water had been drained to a level of less than 30 centimetres, so the field had a greater capacity to hold water when the rainy season goes into full swing.