High court asked to halt water projects

The Central Administrative Court has already ruled that the government project needs to be put on hold until all legal requirements, such as public hearings and environmental impact assessments (EIAs), are met. However, sources said the government was already preparing to sign contracts with successful bidders in the next three months. “For projects needing only an EIA, the government plans to sign the contracts first and conduct the EIA later,” the sources said. 

They added that the government had no plan to appeal against the court’s ruling and if it did intend to do so, it would have to file an appeal by July 27 tomorrow.

The SGWA’s latest move came after it found evidence that the project had not complied with legal procedures and violated the Constitution’s Sections 57(2) and 67(2), which require the government to conduct public hearings and impact assessments for projects deemed possibly harmful to the environment and local people’s livelihood. 

Initially, the SGWA filed a lawsuit with the Central Administrative Court, asking it to withdraw the government’s Bt350-billion project, but the court’s June 27 verdict only ordered the government to conduct public hearings and impact assessments and to involve the public.

Srisuwan Janya, the association’s president, said that if the Supreme Court ruled that the water-management mega-project had to be withdrawn, then the authorities would have no choice but to start the process again by holding public hearings, collecting public opinions about the project and conducting impact assessments.

“That’s how things should be done. That’s how relevant parties should come up with conceptual plans to begin with,” he said. However, the government has already started the water-management project modules by asking interested firms to provide conceptual plans, and it plans to handle public hearings and other requirements later. 

Meanwhile, the government has assigned Deputy Prime Minister Phongthep Thepkanjana to study the Central Administrative Court’s ruling before deciding whether to appeal. If the verdict is not appealed within the deadline, the government will have no choice but to comply with the court’s order.

Deputy Prime Minister Plodprasop Suraswadi, who chairs the Water and Flood Management Commission, has insisted that the government will conduct public hearings and impact assessments before it signs contracts with the bidders.

He said there were about five large dam and reservoir projects that needed environmental and health impact assessments, four of which have already been completed by the Royal Irrigation Department. Meanwhile, an EIA 

 is required for 20 dam and reservoir projects and 19 of them have been completed, he said. 

“We have to talk with the contractors again, on whether they will design and construct the project following conditions designated in the impact assessments. If they do not follow that condition, they will have to conduct new assessments,” Plodprasop said. 

He added that his agency would initiate public hearings by next month and that the process would take three months to complete, while the environment and health impact assessments would take about a year. 

“We might sign the contracts for projects that do not require impact assessments, such as the Water Information Centre, the contract for which should be signed in three months,” he said. 

However, Srisuwan said the government would not be able to sign any contracts until it completed the public-hearing process for the entire project and impact assessment reports for each of the nine modules of the water scheme. “If the government goes ahead with signing contracts, the association will ask the Supreme Court to issue an injunction,” he said. 

Separately, after a meeting with the Japan External Trade Organisation (Jetro), Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Kittiratt Na-Ranong said he expected Japanese investments in Thailand to improve in the second half despite some concerns about the delays in basic transport, water-management and flood-prevention infrastructure projects.

Kittiratt said PM Yingluck Shinawatra had been told about the concerns voiced by Jetro executives about the delays in the infrastructure projects and the potential adverse impacts these delays would bring. 

In accordance to Administrative Court’s order, EIAs have to be conducted for the infrastructure mega-projects under the government’s Bt2.2-trillion Borrowing Bill and the Bt350-billion water-management and flood-prevention project. Kittiratt, meanwhile, insisted that the government would drive public-sector investments for the two mega-projects in a transparent manner as investments in these schemes would boost the country’s economic growth significantly.