Mae Wong report scrapped

THE GOVERNMENT has scrapped the latest version of the environmental report for the controversial Mae Wong Dam in Nakhon Sawan, saying it will launch a brand new study with a focus on flood prevention. 

Deputy Prime Minister Plodprasop Suraswadi explained that the environmental and health impact assessment (EHIA) conducted by the Royal Irrigation Department (RID) could not be used, as it focused on resolving irrigation problems rather than flood prevention. Hence, he said, he would get the Office of National Water and Flood Management Policy to launch a new study, which should begin once the public hearing on the Bt350-billion water- and flood-management scheme is completed by December and a deal is signed with the contractor by February. 

The Mae Wong Dam project is part of the government’s water- and flood-management plan. 

It was first proposed in 1984 by the RID as part of a plan to study irrigation development in the Sakae Krang watershed – a tributary of the Chao Phraya River. The Japan International Cooperation Agency backed this proposal.

The RID has been submitting |its environmental impact assessment (EIA) report to a panel of experts and the National Environmental Board (NEB) since 1994, but the report continues getting rejected due to incomplete information. 

As per the most recent EHIA, the dam would cover 12,900 rai of the Sob Kok mountain, which straddles Nakhon Sawan’s Mae Wong district and Kamphaeng Phet’s Khanu Woralaksaburi district. Also, some 12,300 rai of this area falls in Mae Wong National Park. According to the report, more than 12,900 rai of forest, consisting of mixed deciduous, dry dipterocarp and bamboo species, would have to be cleared. The dam construction will also affect the head watershed and the habitat of more than 400 wildlife species, including tigers.

However, the dam is expected to retain 258 million cubic metres of water and help irrigate more than 291,900 rai of arable land in Nakhon Sawan, Kampaeng Phet and Uthai Thani.

While he was director-general of the Royal Forest Department in 1999, Plodprasop fought against the Mae Wong Dam project, saying it would destroy the forest areas. He changed his mind this year, however, saying it would resolve flood problems. 

Meanwhile, RID director-general Lertviroj Kowattana said his department would not go ahead with getting the NEB’s panel of experts to approve the EHIA. 

“We will not go ahead with the plan if Plodprasop wants to stop it,” he said. 

Citing the 1992 Enhancement and Conservation of National Environmental Quality Act, the secretary-general of the Office of Natural Resources and Environmental Policy and Planning, Santi Boonprakub – who chairs the panel deliberating on the EHIA – said his panel would have to continue deliberating and providing recommendations on the report. Once this is done, the report will be submitted to the Independent Commission on Environment and Health for more suggestions before it is sent to the Cabinet, which has the power to withdraw the EHIA. 

 

Report ‘lacked correct info’

However, ecosystem expert Uthit Kud-In, a former member of the environmental experts panel, said the EHIA conducted by the RID did not provide correct information about the impact the dam would have. He added that the report lacked correct information on how the forest area and aquatic animals would be affected by the project. 

“That’s why this report was unacceptable,” he said.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra said she had instructed Plodprasop to invite those opposing the Mae Wong Dam project for talks and to listen to their objections.

“The big challenge is how to prevent damage caused by upstream runoff. We have to find the best solution to resolve this problem,” she said. 

Last week, thousands of peo-ple, including conservationists, gathered in the capital to protest against the Mae Wong Dam project.

Lertviroj was making his comments in yesterday’s session with the House Committee on Political Development, Mass Communica-tions and Public Participation, where opponents and proponents of the dam project, as welll as relevan agencies responsible for the Mae Wong scheme, appeared and discussed their grounds.

The panel is planning to invite Plodprasop and Sasin Chalermlarp, head of Seub Nakhasathien Foundation, who led a 13-day, 368-km march from the project site in Nakhon Sawan to Bangkok on Sunday, to discuss the issue. Panel members may pay inspection visits to the project site soon. Plodprasop had earlier ruled out any debate with Sasin.