Advice for transparency in water projects

Hannarong Yaowalert, president of the Foundation for Integrated Water Management and of the Confederation of Environmental and Natural Resources Conservation NGOs, said the coalition issued the statement in support of the June 27 Central Administrative Court order for the government to hold adequate consultations with the public as mandated by the Constitution.
The Yingluck Shinawatra administration has also given inconsistent information to the public that may have led to confusion.
The statement called on the government to act on eight points:
- Set up a tri-partite committee of representatives from the public, professionals and academics to consult with and listen to the views of the public.
- Hold public hearings to gather feedback on the nine proposed water-management projects in all provinces.
- Hold a separate public hearing for each project and module that is deemed as possibly posing severe risks to the quality of the environment and natural resources.
- Target the forums at people expected to be directly affected by the master plan.
- Publish details on the modules before holding each forum, including the rationale, objective, plans, expected outcome, executing agency or organisation and expected impact on local people and how to deal with adverse effects, along with proposed budgets and sources of funds.
- Adequately announce the hearings through public media, including details of how they will be conducted.
- Allot adequate time to those expected to be affected to air their views during the hearings.
- Adequately publicise the hearing results and use them to improve plans.